64 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



for a chickadee to be rearing a family — I tore away the 

 bark near the entrance, in order to examine the premises. 

 When I uncovered the recess sufficiently to admit the light, 

 I saw a pair of bright eyes directed upward, and the head 

 of a chickadee projecting from the rubbish which fairly 

 covered her body. She was nearly smothered with the 

 dusty material which had fallen on her, and was sputter- 

 ing the disagreeable stuff from her mouth and nostrils. 

 I gently removed the debris from about her, and not till 

 then did she start from her farry bed, whereon lay four 

 eggs, glossy white under their reddish specks. Repairing 

 the damage somewhat, by cleaning out the fallen dust and 

 replacing the bark which had covered the recess, I left the 

 spot with the mournful and appealing "dee" of the 

 anxious parent coming to my ears. At a suitable distance 

 I watched the mother bird hopping about the premises, 

 gradually nearing her outraged home, until she finally 

 flitted into the recess, and there I left her, feeling that 

 such maternal devotion deserved more than ordinary 

 consideration. 



Any suitable cavity in a stump, post, branch, or tree- 

 trunk may be appropriated as a nesting site, usually one 

 made by the downy woodpecker or the white-breasted 

 nuthatch in the preceding autumn or winter. If no suit- 

 able hollow is found, the chickadee excavates one to its 

 liking. Like the bluebird, it may be found nesting in 

 hollow fence-posts along railroads. The cavity is com- 

 monly about six inches deep. The nests are made of fine 

 hair, several that I have examined being made entirely of 

 rabbit fur, arranged into a cozy bed. Fine dried grass, 

 moss, feathers, and fibers are also available materials for 

 this little builder. The eggs number from, six to eight, 

 and are white, sprinkled with reddish brown. Davie says 

 their average size is .57 by .47 of an inch. 



Our readers who are not familiar with the appearance 

 of the chickadee can identify it by its ashy gray back and 

 the ashy gray or whitish abdomen, and more directly by 

 its black crown, chin, throat. Its length is about five and 

 one-fourth inches, with an extent of wing of about eight 

 inches. 



