CAROLINA CHICKADEE 351 



duced in part by the stiflf rustling of the feathers, and the reverberations within the 

 hollow of the surrounding wood, much, or the greater part of the noise certainly 

 comes from the mouth and throat, and the hiss sometimes dies out in a faint little 

 vocal squeak. All combine to make a fearful noise, and while mimicry is of course 

 an unconscious, or better, an unintentional occurrence, there is no mistaking what 

 the noise is to be taken for. 



According to other observers, this snakehke sound is also employed 

 b\' the northern chickadee (Penthestcs atricapiUiis). 



That the hissing note is not confined to North American chickadees 

 is attested to by Jourdain (1929) ; he states that "the European Titmice 

 produce warning noises in apparently exactly the same manner as the 

 Americ.an Chickadee. I have frequently noticed this habit in the case of 

 the British Great Tit (Pariis tnajor nczvtoni), on at least one occasion in 

 the British Coal Tit (P. ater britannicus), and it is also characteristic of 

 the British Blue Tit (P. caeruleus obscurus). Mr. Pickens' description 

 of the movements of the chickadee in producing this explosive hiss 

 applies exactly to those of the Great Tit; but though well known to 

 field-workers, there is little on record in the numerous books on British 

 birds on the subject beyond a few references to 'hissing like a snake,' on 

 the part of the setting Blue Tit." 



Enemies. — Like all small birds, our chickadee has to be continually 

 on the watch for small accipitrine hawks, cats, snakes, and small mam- 

 mals ; apparently the screech owl does not prey upon it to any extent, 

 as the little bird tucks itself away at sundown in some hollow, too small 

 for asio to enter. 



That the cowbird occasionally imposes its domestic duties on the 

 chickadee is shown by Friedmann (1938), who writes of "a nest con- 

 taining five eggs of the chickadee and two of the cowbird, collected at 

 Piney Point, St. Mary's County, Maryland, April 25, 1934, by E. J. 

 Court, who tells me that he caught the female Cowbird on the nest, about 

 half an hour after daylight." 



Peters (1936) includes this bird in his list of avian hosts of external 

 parasites ; a Maryland specimen was found infected with lice of the 

 species Degeeriella vulgata (Kell.), while mites [Trombicula initans 

 (Riley)], were taken from a South Carolina bird. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southeastern United States ; nonmigratory. 



The range of the Carolina chickadee extends north to southeastern 

 Kansas (Independence) ; central Missouri (Columbia and St. Louis) ; 

 Illinois (Carlinville and Ravinia) ; Indiana (Indianapolis and Ander- 

 son) ; Ohio (Phelps Creek and East Liverpool) ; Pennsylvania (Wash- 



