240 A BIRD-LOVER'S APRIL. 



ing her position, and doing nothing whatever 

 except to preen her feathers a little. She paid 

 no attention to her husband, nor did he to her. 

 It was a revelation to me that a chickadee could 

 possibly sit still so long. 



Eight days after this they were both at work, 

 spelling each other, and then going off in com- 

 pany for a brief turn at feeding. 



So far they had never manifested the least an- 

 noyance at my espionage ; but the next morn- 

 ing, as I stood against the tree, one of them 

 seemed slightly disturbed, and flew from twig 

 to twig about my head, looking at me from all 

 directions with his shining black eyes. The re- 

 connoissance was satisfactory, however ; every- 

 thing went on as before, and several times the 

 chips rattled down upon my stiff Derby hat. 

 The hole was getting deep, it was plain ; I 

 could hear the little carpenter hammering at 

 the bottom, and then scrambling up the walls 

 on his way out. One of the pair brought a 

 black tidbit from a pine near by, and offered it 

 to the other as he emerged into daylight. He 

 took it from her bill, said ehit^ — chickadese for 

 thank you^ — and hastened back into the mine. 



Finally, on the 27th, after watching their op- 

 erations a while from the ground, I swung my- 

 self into the tree, and took a seat with them. 

 To my delight, the work proceeded without 



