56 LAND-BIRDS. 



branches." Mr. Burroughs says of this bird in " Wake 

 Robin " : " Its song is a lisping, chattering, incoherent warble, 

 now faintly reminding one of the Goldfinch, now of a miniature 

 Catbird, then of a tiny Yellow-hammer, having much variety, 

 but no unity, and little cadence." He previously remarks, in 

 his charming sketches, that " in form and manner it seems 

 almost a duplicate of the Catbird, on a small scale. It mews 

 like a young kitten, erects its tail, flirts, droops its wings, goes 

 through a variety of motions when disturbed by your presence, 

 and in many ways recalls its dusky prototype." 



§ 4. The PARID^, or Titmice^ together with the next two 

 families, the Nuthatches and Creepers, form a natural, plainly- 

 colored group, and might appropriately be called " tree-glean- 

 ers." They all lead an active life, scrambling about among 

 trees in search of insects and their eggs, but never flying far, 

 though partially migrant. The Chickadees not unfrequently 

 alight on the ground, and often hang head downwards, 

 but they never habitually cling to the trunk. The Creepers, 

 on the other hand, climb much like Woodpeckers, confining 

 themselves to the trunks or larger upright limbs, and never 

 touch the earth ; while the Nuthatches in their habits are in- 

 termediate between the two. As regards music, however, the 

 Chickadees are intermediate, for the Nuthatches are wholly 

 unmusical, while the Creepers have a warbled song. They 

 all, however, agree in building a nest in some cavity, usually 

 the hole of a tree, and in laying small, white, spotted eggs ; 

 but the Titmice are the most prolific, laying in one set always 

 more than five eggs, and sometimes more than ten. They 

 are all unsuspicious and sociable, though, in Massachusetts, 

 only the Chickadees are strictly gregarious. The three 

 families are all partially characterized as follows : length less 

 than seven inches ; bill neither hooked nor notched ; tarsi 

 scutellate ; toes not completely cleft ; primaries ten, the first 

 short or spurious ; tail-feathers twelve. In the Paridce the 

 bill is short, stout, pointed, and with convex outlines, the nos- 

 trils are concealed, the tarsus is " longer than the middle toe 

 and claw," the tail is long, and about equal to the wings. In 



