26 JOURNAL OK MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL .SOCIETY. 



sembled a Woodpecker's nest so closely that a bird student who eaine 

 to examine it declared that it was a Woodpecker's nest that the 

 Chickadees had appropriated, until I testified to watching the Tit- 

 mice day by day as they shaped the pouch-shaped receptacle for 

 their eggs. 



As time went on, I found that not only were the two nests quite 

 different, but the two families were entirely unlike. The first nest 

 was located in a more or less open, sunny space, the second in a 

 comparatively thick, shady grove. The nest in the birch stump was 

 open, the nest in the poplar stump was roofed. The inhabitants of 

 the pasture nest were confiding and gentle, the occupants of the 

 grove nest were suspicious and timid. Since all Chickadees have 

 similar methods of constructing a nest and rearing young, it seemed 

 best to study details of Chickadee life in the unroofed nest and 

 annoy the timid little folk of the dark grove as little as possible. 



The Chickadees, while at work on both nests, labored in the 

 afternoon at times, as well as in the early part of the day. The 

 method of procedure was as follows: One bird flew down, perched 

 on the edge of the nest, dropped to the bottom and returned with a 

 beakful of wood. This it carried to an adjoining tree and dropped. 

 Then it flew again to the nest, ready to take the place of the mate 

 that was repeating exactly its activities. Once in a while the first 

 bird lingered to pick up a grub, and both birds were perched above 

 the nest, ready for work at the same time. Usually, however, they 

 came and went, ascended and descended with the regularity of a 

 steam shovel. Often as I stood near the nest in the pasture, the 

 Chickadees flew over my head, almost touching it, but made no sound 

 save an occasional seep. 



May 22, both sets of Chickadees were lining their nests. I 

 found later that the birds in the grove began to incubate a few days 

 earlier than the first Chickadees I discovered building. As the birds 

 laid their eggs, they covered them with the nest lining. It was only 

 when flushed from the nest that the incubating Chickadee revealed 

 her seven white eggs speckled with brown. 



