g§ XOKTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



these localities, not only appearing familiarly arouml tlie dwellings in the 

 winter season, but also occasionally breeding in open and exposed places. 

 A hollow post of a fence in the midst of open cultivated fields, a decayed 

 stump near the side of a public highway, a hollow log iu a frequented farm- 

 yard, and even the side of an inhabited dwelling, are localities these birds 

 have been known to select iu which to rear their young. In the winter 

 they not unfreipiently extend their visits, in search of food, into the very 

 heart of large and crowded cities, where they seem as much at home and as 

 free from alarm as in tlie seclusion of the forest, searching ewvy crack \\here 

 insect larvaj or eggs can be hid. On one occasion a pair had built its nest 

 over a covered well which connects with the dwelling by a side door, through 

 which water was drawn at all hours of the day liy means of buckets and a 

 rope, the wlieel for which was in close proximity to their nest. They mani- 

 fested, however, no uneasiness, and even after the young were ready to Hy, 

 the whole family would return to tlie place for slielter at niglit and during 

 inclement weather. 



Their courage and devotion to their young is a remarkable trait with the 

 wdiole race, and with none more tlian with tlie present species. On one 

 occasion a Black-Cap was seen to fly into a rotten stump near tlie roadside 

 in ]5rookline. The stump was so much decayed that its top was readily 

 broken off and the nest exposed. The mother refused to leave until forcibly 

 taken off by the hand, and twice returned to the nest when thus removed, 

 and it was only by holding her in the hand that an o]i])ortunity was given 

 to ascertain there were seven young liirds in iier nest. She made no com- 

 plaints, uttered no outcries, but resolutely and devotedly thrust herself be- 

 tween her nestlings and the seeming danger. When released she immedi- 

 ately flew back to them, covered them under her sheltering wings, and looked 

 up ill the face of her tormentors with a ipiiet and resolute courage that could 

 not be surpassed. 



The nest of the Chickadee is usually a warm and soft felted mass of the 

 hair and fur of the smaller quadrupeds, downy feathers, fine diy grasses and 

 mosses, lining the cavity iu which it is placed and contracting it into a deep 

 and purse-like opening if the cavity be larger than is necessary. Usually the 

 site selected is already in existence, and only enlarged or altered to suit the 

 wishes of the pair. But not unfrequently, at some pains, they will exca- 

 vate an opening for themselves, not only in decaying wood, but even into 

 limljs or trunks that are entirely sound. 



These birds in winter collect around the camps of the log-cutters, become 

 very tame, and seek on all occasions to share with their occuiiants their food, 

 often soliciting their portion with plaiiiti\-e tones. Though nearly om- 

 nivorous in the matter of food, they prefer insects to e\'erything else, and 

 the amount of good conferred by them on the farmers and the owners of 

 woodlands in the destruction of insects in all their forms — egg, caterpillar, 

 larva, or imago — -must be very great. No chrysalis is too large to resist 



