U% Journal 



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Mmm (inttli|olngtral ^orieiy 



Published by the Society on the first of March, June, September and December 



Vol. XIII JUNE, 1911 No. 2 



A Study of Two Chickadee Families. 



By Cordelia J. Stanwood, Ellsworth, Maine. 



The gleeful chatter of Chickadees so intent on nest-building 

 that they forgot to be cautious, revealed their secret to me one mild, 

 bright morning in early spring. Making my way around brush 

 heaps, and through the firs on the border of an overgrown pasture, 

 I came upon the pair hollowing a graj' birch stump in a compara- 

 tively sunny spot. The stump was four feet high, sheltered by firs 

 and so decayed and rickety that a slight puff of wind might easily 

 blow it over. The birds were removing all the wood from the top of 

 the stump, leaving but a shell of bark. These Chickadees seemed 

 bent on constructing a well ventilated nest. 



The following day, May 8, 1907, passing through a rather dense 

 evergreen grove near the house, I heard what sounded like a Wood- 

 pecker excavating a nest. It proved to be a Chickadee, hollowing 

 a poplar stump of quite solid, dead wood. Later, this domicile re- 



