The Surprising Contents of a Birch Stub 



BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



FTER seeing Dr. Roberts' interesting Chickadee photo- 

 graphs, published in the first number of Bird-Lore, 

 my ambition was aroused to discover a nest of this 

 species so situated as to afford an opportunity to 

 secure equally charming pictures of Chickadee life. 

 Late in May the desire was gratified by the discovery, 

 at Englewood, N. J., of a Chickadee's nest in a 

 white birch stub, about four feet from the ground, a height ad- 

 mirably suited to the needs of bird photography. 



I will not here present the results of my study of the parent 

 birds during their period of incubation, but will pass at once to 

 that part of my experience which relates to their progeny. 



Returning to the nest on June 12th. nothing was to be seen of 

 either parent, and I feared that they or their offspring had fallen 

 victims to the countless dangers which beset nesting birds and their 

 young. Looking about for some clue to their fate, I found on the 

 ground, near the nest-stub, the worn tail-feathers of the female bird. 

 The molting season had not yet arrived, nor would she have shed 

 all these feathers at the same moment. There could, therefore, be 

 only one interpretation of their presence. Some foe, probably a 

 Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawk, since the predaceous mammals 

 for the most part hunt at night when the Chickadee would be 

 snugly sleeping in her nest, had made a dash and grasped her by 

 the tail, which she had sacrificed in escaping. A moment later the 

 theory was supported by the appearance of a subdued looking 

 Chickadee, sa//s tail, and I congratulated her on her fortunate ex- 

 change of life for a member which of late had not been very deco- 

 rative and of which, in any event, nature would have soon deprived 

 her. 



The young proved to be nearly ready to fly, and carefully remov- 

 ing the front of their log-cabin, a sight was disclosed such as mortal 

 probably never beheld before, and Chickadee but rarely. 



Six black and white heads were raised and six yellow-lined 

 mouths opened in expressive appeal for food. But this was not 

 all ; there was another layer of Chickadees below, how many it was 

 impossible to say without disentangling a compact wad of birds 

 in which the outlines of no one bird could be distinguished. So I 

 built a piazza, as it were, at the Chickadee threshhold, in the shape 

 of a perch of proper size, and beneath, as a life-net, spread a 



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