THE CHICKADEE. 49 



even the side of an inhabited dwelHng, are localities these birds 

 have been known to select in which to rear their young. 

 . . . On one occasion a pair had built their nest over a covered 

 well which connects with the dwelling by a side door through 

 which water was drawn at all hours of the day by means of 

 buckets and a rope, the wheel for which was in close proximity 

 to their nest. They manifested, however, no uneasiness and 

 even after the young were ready to fly, the whole famih- would 

 return to the place for shelter at night, and during inclement 

 weather. They may thus gradually become almost domestic." 



Audubon witnessed a pair actually dig out for themselves 

 a hole about three inches deep, carved obliquelv downward, 

 in the hard wood of a crab-apple. Both sexes worked in turn, 

 and Audubon watched them a long time. Since then many in- 

 stances of their digging an original domicile have been recorded. 



The only effort at nest-making is to pad the interior more or 

 less elaborately with matted bits of decaved and living moss, 

 pieces of dried grass, hair, a little wool, and a small quantitv 

 of wood-dust, the last evidently from the bottom of the hole. 

 The nests are of the same thickness in every part, and neatly 

 and strongly put together, the grasses and other materials which 

 are interwoven often giving them much firmness even after 

 removal. Occasionally, however, a very slight and careless 

 bed of bits of grass, fur and wood-dust is all that is found. 



The eggs are seven or eight in number, — one case of eleven 

 in a single suite has been reported. They are white, with red- 

 dish-brown dots and small marks, sometimes gathered into a 

 ring around the larger end, and sometimes equally distributed 

 over th-^ entire surface ; average dimensions .58 bv .46 of an 

 inch. The period of incubation is about ten days, and the gen- 

 eral opinion is that only one brood is raised during the season ; 

 Audubon and Wilson, speaking for the south, say two, the 

 iirst brood appearing about June i, and the second late in July. 

 1 knew of a nest taken in Chester count}', Pennsylvania, on June 

 10, which the collector wrote me "was probably for a second 

 brood." About Boston the nest is completed by May 15, and 



4 



