62 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



and shrubbery are the only requisites of the neighbor- 

 hoods they frequent. Almost every orchard has its pair 

 of these valuable birds. They are permanent residents, 

 and can generally be seen at any season hopping about in 

 our garden trees and in our door-yards, stripping the 

 trees of insects, and searching in all likely places for food 

 morsels, now and then chattering their " chick-a-dee-dee- 

 dee-dee-dee." They have a noticeable habit of hopping 

 *' right-about," flirting their tails and perking their heads 

 in accompaniment to their single "dee," as their quick 

 movements carry them from one portion of the tree to 

 another. 



The habitat of the chickadee is northeastern North 

 America, extending westward to the great plains, and 

 southward through the Middle States. In Illinois the 

 range of the chickadee seems to be limited to the 

 northern half of the State, for it is known only as a winter 

 visitor in the southern part, or below the thirty-ninth 

 parallel, and coming only at irregular intervals in very 

 cold weather, according to Eobert Eidgway. In the 

 southern parts of the State, however, is the Carolina 

 chickadee, very similar in coloration and habits, and 

 differing only in its smaller size. 



In its food habits no bird renders more valuable service 

 to man in checking the spread of noxious insects than the 

 active, diminutive chickadee. The destructive canker- 

 worm forms a large part of its yearly rations, and few 

 birds scan the bark of trees so closely for eggs and larvae 

 hidden there, eating away the life of their host. Its 

 service for us continues through the year, nor does it ex- 

 act in return any portion of the ripening fruit, but con- 

 fines its diet largely to insects, with a few seeds, and the 

 scanty gleanings from our door-yards in winter. 



In central Illinois the chickadee begins to nest early in 

 April. It apparently considers that its valuable services 

 can be dispensed with at this season, for it does not regu- 

 larly remain about the gardens and town to rear its 

 young. Among deeper woods and in more secluded lo- 

 calities it finds the environments suited to its disposition, 

 and there it establishes its summer home, seeking its food 

 near its domicile, and seldom visiting the village or city 



