374 Bird -Lore 



in life. Emerson calls the Chickadee "a scrap of valor." One gifted writer 

 says of its activity: 



"Chickadee refuses to look down for long upon the world; or indeed to look 

 at any one thing from any direction for more than two consecutive twelfths 

 of a second. 'Any old side up without care,' is the label he bears; and so with 

 anything he meets, be it a pine-cone, an alder catkin, or a bug-bearing branch- 

 let; topside, bottomside, inside, outside, all is right side to the nimble Chicka- 

 dee Blind-man's buff, hide-and-seek and tag are merry games 



enough when played out on one plane; but \vhen staged in three dimensions, 

 with a labyrinth of interlacing branches for hazard, only the blithe bird whose 

 praises we sing could promptly master their intricacies."* 



Although he is no fly-catcher, the Chickadee takes insects on the wdng 

 with ease, and often catches in the air those which fall from the trees or from 

 his own clutch. 



I have seen a Chickadee reach backward after a flying insect, spring after 

 it, back downward, catch it in the air, and, turning a somersault alight on a 

 branch below. Another swung completely around a branch, like a gymnast 

 doing the "giant swing." Every pose possible to a bird in a tree is taken by 

 our httle acrobat. His head turns quickly from side to side, his wings and tail 

 flirt this way and that, as he turns, twists, pecks and peers in pursuit of the 

 insects which form the greater part of his food. Often his prying habits 

 lead him to the hiding-place of a dozing Owl, and then, no matter how 

 large and powerful the enemy. Chickadee raises the alarm and sounds the 

 attack, stirring and leading the feathered mob which gathers, to execrate 

 the common foe. 



Notwithstanding his small size, this diminutive, black-capped bird is a 

 leader. After the breeding-season, he is almost always the central figure and 

 foremost spirit of a little band of Warblers, Nuthatches, Creepers, ^nd King- 

 lets, and is frequently followed by a Woodpecker or two. In Autumn, Chicka- 

 dees gather into bands of one or more families and scour the woods, searching 

 out the most favorable localities for their food. Migrating Warblers follow 

 their call, knowing that it always leads them to food. Chickadee knows 

 the ground; he has spied out the land, and invites all to join in his good 

 cheer. 



Follow the Chickadee, and you will see sooner or later most of the wood- 

 land birds. But he is not, by any means, confined to the woods. He visits 

 the orchard and shade trees, picks up crumbs about the farmhouse door, 

 enters the woodshed, picks out borers from the firewood, and helps himself 

 to the bacon which the farmer uses to grease his bucksaw. He confides in 

 man to a remarkable degree. He hangs about the camp of the woodchopper, 

 looks for the "full dinner-pail," and sometimes comes and feeds from the 

 hand. Many times in the woods his curiosity has led him to fly close about 



♦Birds of Oregon, Dawson and Bowles, p. 276. 



