68 LAND-BIRDS. 



c. The Chickadees are so abundantly 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 beginning of every 

 new year, they may be found in abundance in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston, more often in small flocks than otherwise. 

 One may then watch them closely, for they are not shy, 

 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 nour- 

 ishment. 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 (compara- 

 tive) muscular strength is required — such attitudes as 

 hanging by the claws, or clinging to cones with the head 

 downwards. They are so merry, genial, and sociable, that 

 their society is sought for, as it were, by other birds, such as 

 Creepers, Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, and " Kinglets," 

 whose habits are much like their own, and who frequently join 

 them in their pleasant rambles and active scrambles. They 

 roam wherever there are trees, be they near houses or in the 

 depths of the forests, in valleys or on hillsides ^^ ; but ever- 

 greens, particularly pines, and white birches are their favorites. 

 They never take other than short flights, and often, as Wilson 

 says, " traverse the woods in regular progression from tree to 

 tree," in this manner traveling several miles every day. They 

 are very unsuspicious, and allow one to approach closely, so 

 that by remaining motionless I have often induced them to 

 surround my person. Mr. Samuels mentions an instance of 

 one perching on the toe of his boot as he sat in the woods ; 

 and a young man of northern New Hampshire once told me 

 that they were so tame in cold weather as to feed from his 

 ^ Among the White Mountains to an elevation of 4,000 feet (?). 



