220 



Bird - Lore 



to work for, I was careful to make the hole a little too small to admit the 

 Chickadee's body. 



I had scarcely left off working when the Chickadees came for inspection. 

 They peeked in, but did not try to enter. During several days they made 

 numerous inspections of this new home, as well as of the Wren house, and the 

 Bluebird house, not far away. 



On April 4, the house was leased and the contract signed, for the birds 



began to enlarge the hole. They 

 worked by turns, and it was the 

 daintiest, cheeriest, lovingest 

 working that I ever saw in the 

 bird world. Their working, how- 

 ever, was at first confined to 

 the early forenoons, for it was 

 not to be expected that lovers 

 could spend all their time 

 working. 



On April 9, at 11.30 o'clock, 

 the hole was large enough, and 

 a bird entered. Judging from 

 the time it spent inspecting the 

 one large room, I take it to have 

 been the female. A number of 

 days were now spent in care- 

 fully rounding the edges of the 

 entrance, and on April 14 the 

 l)air began to carry in material. 

 An old weather-beaten bit of 

 rope the dog had laid just un- 

 der my window, and to this 

 they came for loose fibers. What 

 plucky little workers they were, 

 planting their feet upon the rope, and diving their little bills into it, and heav- 

 ing away like veritable sailors! Another old rope hung tied to a limb of the 

 nearest tree, and to this they went for more fibers. What difference does it 

 make to these birds whether they are right-side-up or up-side-down? To 

 this rope they clung in all attitudes, often making it swing by their efforts, 

 and clinging and pulling away as it swung. 



I am writing as though both male and female did the work. Their colors 

 are the same, though the male is a trifle larger. But their movements are so 

 rapid that it is not always easy to be sure which bird enters the nest with 

 material. I suspect, however, that the female does most of the work of carry- 

 ing in material, for the larger bird often acted in a very masculine fashion, 



THE CHICKADEE'S HOME-SITE 



