288 Bird - Lore 



FOR AND FROM ADULT AND YOUNG 

 OBSERVERS 



THE BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE 



By G. T. RICHARDS* fage 11 years) 



"This scrap of valor just for play, Out of sound heart and merry throat, 



Fronts the north wind in waistcoat gray, As if it said 'Good day good sir! 



As if to shame my weak behavior. Fine afternoon old passenger ! 



Piping a tiny voice near by Happy to meet you in these places, 



Gay and polite, a cheerful cry, Where January brings few faces.' " 

 Chick-chick-a-dee-dee — saucy note! — Emerson. 



The Chickadee's disposition is its great point, as its plumage is not brilUant 

 while its song is merry, not beautiful. It is the tamest bird that we have and 

 is very beneficial. It is fully as much of a snow-bird as the Snow Bunting and 

 is out in all weather except during an ice-storm. "Follow the Chickadee and 

 you will sooner or later see most of the woodland birds." It is very curious 

 and often will alight on one's hand. It is the picture of gaiety, merry and un- 

 afraid, "chick-chick-a-deeing " encore after encore, day after day, until its first 

 egg is laid, when it suddenly becomes silent and avails itself of every effort 

 to draw you away from its precious offspring. It is properly a wood bird but 

 will sometimes come to one's door to partake of a feast when food is scarce. 

 "Its chief traits are courage, optimism, industry, activity, helpfulness, and 

 joy in life." It seems to notice humans and does not regard us with indifference, 

 but shows a decided interest in man-folk. 



There are six to eight eggs a brood and sometimes two broods, provided that 

 the nest is not robbed. The color of the eggs is white spotted with reddish 

 brown. The time is eleven days to hatch and two weeks before the young 

 birds can fly. The Chickadee nests in sassafras, birch, wild cherry, apple, 

 plum, pine, and redbud trees, while it will use knot-holes, fence-posts and bird- 

 boxes if there are any near. It cannot bore into solid wood, and when it makes 

 its own hole uses dead trees or Woodpeckers' and Nuthatches' holes and any 

 others that it can find. It deepens, enlarges, and smooths other birds' holes 

 whenever possible. The Chickadee uses holes all the year round to live, breed, 

 and sleep in, and seeks a hole when danger threatens. 



It is very prudent and removes tell-tale chips to a distance. Its nest is 

 nine inches deep, and in one instance a Chickadee had scooped clear to the 

 bark of a three-inch tree. When resident (as it usually is) it uses its hole all 



*AuthorIties consulted (but not quoted verbatim) : John Burroughs' Works; Citizen Bird, by 

 Mabel O. Wright and Elliott Coues, New International Encyclopedia; Bird Guide, by Chester A. 

 Reed; Bird Neighbors, by Neltje Blanchan; Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Songs, by Schuyler 

 Matthews; The Home Life of Wild Birds, by F. H. Herrick; Bird-Lore; Educational Bird 

 Leaflets. 



