82 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



your foot. The Puffins, too, are fighters, and 

 could make fearful wounds with their sharp, heavy 

 beaks. There's nothing to keep the young Murre 

 from growing up. 



''On the other hand, look at the nest of the 

 Chickadee, that little scrap of valor, with its 

 seven or eight eggs. It takes as many as that 

 to keep the Chickadee tribe alive. The gallant 

 Chickadee doesn't live in colonies with a sharp- 

 beaked friend, nor can he put his home on a rocky 

 islet in the sea to which no animal can go. His 

 nest is in the midst of a thousand dangers. Rob- 

 ber birds, like the Jay, Grackle, or Crow may fly 

 down and eat the eggs; animals, like the 'coon, 

 'possum or red squirrel will dine readily on either 

 the eggs or the baby birds ; the snake — that dragon 

 of the bird-world — climbs trees stealthily and 

 greedily ; and if there 's a pussy within five miles, 

 no nest is safe. Out of every four Chickadee 

 nests, at least two are ravaged. 



''Eggs differ greatly in size as well as in the 

 number to be found in a clutch. The smallest egg 

 known is that of a West Indian Humming-bird, 

 which is smaller than a pea ; the largest egg knoA\Ti 

 is that of the extinct ^pyomis of Madagascar, 

 which was over a foot in length and held over 



