CAROLINA CHICKADEE 343 



tributed, ranging from the lowlands to at least 5,000 feet, and probably 

 still higher. On the Black Mountains I found it breeding sparingly 

 along the lower edge of the balsam belt, and thus actually mingling with 

 P. atricapillus. In one place a male of each species was singing in the 

 same tree, the low plaintive tswee- dee- tswee - dee of the P. carolinensis, 

 contrasting sharply with the ringing te - derry of its more northern 

 cousin. The fact that the two occur here together and that each pre- 

 serves its characteristic notes and habits, should forever settle all doubts 

 as to their specific distinctness." 



Other observers have recorded the birds in summer at altitudes of 

 3,300, 4,400, and 5,000 feet. But the center of abundance is unquestion- 

 ably the great swamp areas of the Coastal Plain, where the writer has 

 found it to be one of our commonest birds. Any wooded territory 

 attracts them, it seems, except possibly extensive pine woods. But even 

 small towns and villages often have their chickadees, and the writer has 

 frequently seen it as a backyard resident. 



Except during the actual breeding period, chickadees are nearly 

 always seen in small bands — family parties, as it were. Late in 

 summer and in fall they are invariably associated with tufted titmice, 

 yellow-throated and pine warblers, brown-headed nuthatches, and downy 

 woodpeckers; later in the winter their ranks are increased by myrtle 

 warblers and the two kinglets. In such foraging bands, the tufted tits 

 appear as leaders, with the chickadees as next in command. 



No bird has endeared itself to us as much as the chickadee ; its gentle, 

 confiding ways, soft colors, and saucy air, as well as its readiness to 

 patronize feed trays, render it a universal favorite. 



There is evidence that our chickadees, like other members of the 

 titmouse family, remain mated for periods longer than one breeding 

 season; Nice (1933) records a pair of Carolina chickadees in Ohio 

 that were associated for three winters and two summers. 



Nesting. — The Carolina chickadee is one of our early breeders; al- 

 though much depends on whether the season is advanced or late, nest 

 construction in the southern part of its range might begin as early as 

 the first week or 10 days of February or as late as the end of March; 

 in South Carolina excavations generally are begun in March, while in 

 Ohio Wheaton (1882) says: "I have found the nest in this vic.inity 

 as early as the 18th of April, ready for the reception of eggs. The 

 female sits very close, and is with difficulty driven from the nest." 



The favorite nesting sites are fence posts and decayed stubs of small 

 saplings. And like the chimney swift, the chickadee offers another ex- 

 ample of a bird that has partly abandoned primeval nesting conditions 

 in favor of man's more convenient replacements. The birds usually 



