THE CniCADEE, OR BLACK-CAn TITMOUSE 



209 



CHICADEE, OE BLACK-CAPT TITMOUSE. 



THE CHICADEE. 



Tliis familiar, hardy, and restless little bird chiefly inhabits the 

 Northern and Middle 

 States, as well as Can- 

 ada in which it is even 

 V es ide n t in winter 

 ■ round Hudson's Bay, 

 and has been met with 

 at 62° on the North- 

 west ccast. In all the 

 Northern and Middle 

 States, during autumn 

 and winter, families of 

 these birds are seen 

 chattering and roving 

 through the woods, 

 busily engaged in 

 gleaning their multi- 

 farious food, along with the preceding species^ Nuthatches, ana 

 Creepers, the whole forming a busy, active, and noisy group, whose 

 manners, food, and habits bring them together in a common pursuit. 

 Their diet varies with the season, for besides insects, their larvae, and 

 eggs, of which they are more particularly fond, in the month of Sep- 

 tember they leave the woods and assemble familiarly in our orchards 

 and gardens, and even enter the thronging cities in quest of that sup- 

 port which their native forests now deny them. Large seeds of many 

 kinds, particularly those which are oily, as the Sun-flower, and Pine 

 and Spruce Kernels are now sought after. These seeds, in the usual 

 manner of the genus, are seized in the claws and held against the 

 branch, until picked open by the bill to obtain their contents. Fat 

 of various kinds is also greedily eaten, and they regularly watch the 

 retreat of the hog-killers, in the country, to glean up the fragments 

 of meat which adhere to the places where the carcases have been 

 suspended. 



Its quaint notes and jingling warble are heard even in winter on 

 fine days when the weather relaxes in its severity. It adds by its 

 presence, indomitable action, and chatter, an air of cheerfulness to 

 the silent and dreary winters of the coldest parts of America. l)r. 

 I^ichardson found it in the fur countries up to the 65th parallel, w here 

 it contrives to dwell throughout the whole year. 



A Avoodcutter in Maine one day at work liad scarcely hung up his 

 basket of provisions wlien a flock of these birds, observing it, gathered 

 into it and attacked a piece of cold beef, but after each peck he saw 

 their heads raised above the edge, as if to guard against danger; Avhen 

 they were tired they left the basket and perched over Ids lire, where 

 they sat till he began his dinner, when in the most plaintive tones they 

 seemed to solicit a portion. 



