60 



LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



for themselves, in a post or a tree. Thej^ rarely select a sound 

 tree, but much prefer a decaj' ed one, particularly a white birch, 

 in which from one to thirty feet above the ground, on the side 

 (or often on the top of a trunk, if a broken one), they make an 

 excavation, from three inches to a foot 

 deep, with a narrow entrance, if possi- 

 ble. At the bottom they place warm 

 and soft materials, such as hairs, moss, 

 feathers, and wool ; and the female, 

 usually in the last week of Maj'^ (near 

 Boston), lays six or sometimes more 

 eggs — often again laying, later in the 

 season. The eggs average '63 X *50 of 

 an inch ; and are white, either spotted 

 with reddish-brown, or finely freckled 

 with a rather paler shade, which ap- 

 proaches flesh-coloi". 



(c). The Chickadees are so abun- 

 dantly distributed, or well represented 

 by 'closely allied species, throughout the 

 greater part of North America, that 

 probably to a majority of its inhabitants they are, on the 

 whole, more familiar than any other birds. They are common 

 residents in all the New England States, but in many parts of 

 Massachusetts are much less common in summer than in 

 winter, when many have come from the North. At the be- 

 ginning of every new j'car, they may be found in abun- 

 dance in the neighborhood of Boston, more often in small 

 flocks than otherwise. One may then watch them closely, 

 for they are not sh}-, as they move about among the higher 

 branches, and the lower branches, or even on the ground, 

 where they peck at fallen cones, or at such refuse as can afford 

 them any nourishment. When on the trees, their motions are 

 characterized by constant energy ; and the better to obtain 

 their minute prey (small insects and eggs, such as infest bark) 

 they assume many peculiar attitudes, to maintain which great 

 (comparative) muscular strength is required — such attitudes 



Fig. 2. Chickadee (^). 



