146 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



down, lined with feathers, a safe place for the 

 six to eight tiny white eggs spotted with brown. 

 Last spring, one day while fishing in the Never- 

 sink, a Chickadee flew to a birch tree near me, 

 with something white in his bill, which he quickly 

 dropped and disappeared. In a moment, back he 

 came similarly laden. This he repeated several 

 times, and finally I traced him to a small maple 

 stub where the pair were excavating a hole for the 

 nest, not more than eighteen inches from the 

 ground. The dead wood was all carried away, 

 evidently in order that its presence about the 

 stub should not betray the location of the nest. 



Chickadees range in summer over eastern 

 North America from Pennsylvania to Labrador. 

 In winter they make a southern movement, 

 but are permanent residents in New England 

 and the Middle States where they are more 

 numerous in the fall and winter. As they usually 

 nest in the woods they are not often seen in the 

 open until the young are grown. 



Carolina Chickadee. A smaller variety, scarcely 

 more than four inches long is called the Caro- 

 lina Chickadee. They are much like the above 

 in dress, with somewhat less white on the wings 

 and tail. Their range is from southern New 

 Jersey southward. In the pinelands of the Caro- 

 linas where I find them in winter, their habits 

 in feeding seem much the same, but their ^'chicka- 

 dee''' notes are pitched higher and several of 

 their calls are not uttered by the Black-cap. 



Hudsonian Chickadee. From northern Maine 

 northward there is found, usually in dense 

 woods, another member of this family known 



