JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 77 



Itri Nntefi. 



Notes and observations upon bird life within our State are earnestly desired from all our readers 

 for publication in this column, and should be sent to Louis E. Legge, 22 Dow Street, Portland, Maine. 



The Chickadee an Enemy of the Polyphemous Moth. — 

 One day I noticed a Chickadee pecking vigorously at something 

 beside the path. So anxious was it to obtain a meal that I ap- 

 proached almost within reach while it worked. It was engaged in 

 tearing open a polyphemous cocoon. When it had pierced a hole in 

 one side, it fed on a thick yellowish fluid. I have seen a great many 

 cocoons pierced in this way, but did not know before that we were 

 indebted to the Chickadee for doing this vjor'k. — Cordelia J . Stan- 

 wood, Ellsworth, Me., Oct. ly, igio. 



Notes on the Nest of the Black-capped Chickadee. — 

 In reading about Chickadees I formed the opinion that they seldom 

 excavated their own nests. Although the birds are so common I 

 have found but six nests. Three of these the birds were excavating 

 in gray birch stumps when I found them, one nest was being hol- 

 lowed in a poplar stump, and two nests in poplar stumps were 

 already occupied when I noticed them. One of these latter stumps 

 attracted my attention early in the spring. A Chickadee began a 

 nest in the upper part of the tree. A heavy wind broke the trunk 

 into several lengths. I kept an eye on this desirable stump for 

 some time, expecting a tenant every day. At last it was so late 

 in the season I decided that there could be none this year. Not 

 much after this, July 3rd, 1909, I found that a Chickadee had hol- 

 lowed the stump and was incubating six eggs. Three of these nests 

 were in excellent condition the following spring but no Chickadee 

 occupied them. It seemed to me very wise. During the winter a 

 red squirrel had used one of the nests, at least, for a storehouse. 

 How foolish it would have been in a Chickadee to select that stump 

 for her eggs? I^ater two gray squirrels lined the stump with hair 

 and raised a family in it. I watched two Downy Woodpecker's 

 nest with the same results. A Downy cleansed one nest of insects 

 but a Tree Swallow occupied it long afterward, yet the neighbor- 



