448 



Bird- Lore 



drj- seasons. Yet only accidentally was 

 this need brought to our notice, notwith- 

 standing we endeavor to give the Martins 

 every encouragement and protection. 



A mud-pile will be provided each year, 

 in future, for our Martins and for the 

 Robins, who have also begun to use it. — 

 T. H. Whitney, Atlantic, Iowa. 



Acadian Chickadee at Groton, Mass., 

 February, 1913 



When the February, 1913, issue of 

 Bird-Lore reached me, I read with much 

 interest the various reports of Acadian 

 Chickadees in New Eng- 

 land. The very ne.xt morn- 

 ing (Feb. 4) I looked out 

 of my window, and there 

 was a little Brown-cap 

 on my spruce hedge. 

 Since then, he has been 

 my guest nearly every 

 day, u<i!h but not quite 

 of a group of Black-caps. 

 For he has a marked in- 

 dividuality, less ner- 

 vously alert and less 

 assertiv'e than his com- 

 moner cousins. I enclose- 

 a photograph of him in 

 the saucer; which, though 

 small, shows the brown 

 shading off on the back, in 

 contrast to the black of the 

 Chickadee on the railing. 

 — S. Warren Sturgis, 

 Grolon, Mass., Feb. 21, 

 1913- 



Occurrence of the Aca- 

 dian Chickadee in the 

 Hudson Valley 



last 



who had hung up suet which these Chick- 

 adees had discovered. I promptly went 

 down to see them and found them with a 

 flock of Black-capped Chickadees. I 

 made repeated visits and always found 

 them in the same locality, and soon 

 noticed that there were three, but could 

 not tell if the third was a fresh arrival or 

 not. I saw them throughout December, 

 but the subsequent storms prevented my 

 keeping track of them thereafter. 



On December 21, an Acadian Chickadee 

 came to the suet hung by Mrs. James F. 

 Goodell outside her window in Rhinebeck 

 village. It was \ery tame and independent 



In Bird -Lore's 

 Christmas Census, my 

 Rhinebeck record of the Acadian 

 Chickadee seemed to be its 'farthest 

 south' for New York State. On Thanks- 

 giving Day, November 27, 1913, a friend 

 telephoned to me that he had seen two in 

 some cedar woods about four miles south 

 of the village, on the estate of a neighbor 



liLALK CAPPED (AT THE LEFT) AND ACADIAN (AT THE 



RIGHT) CHICKADEES AT GROTON, MASS., FEB. 1913 



Photographed by S. Warren Sturgis 



and did not pay much attention to the 

 other Chickadees, although it tolerated 

 their presence. It remained throughout 

 the winter, probably roosting in some 

 neighboring spruces, and came daily to 

 feed until March 12, when it was last 

 seen. It seldom ate anything but suet. 



