CHICKADEE. 45 
squirrel or rabbit fur that made it snug and 
warm. Iwas tempted to wonder where the fur 
came from — had this innocent chickadee tweaked 
it out of the back of some preoccupied animal ? 
Perhaps the demure little recluse has a spice of 
wickedness after all, and its satisfaction in its se- 
cure retreat has something of exultant mischief 
in it! 
In any ease, it sometimes takes unfair advan- 
tage, for this fall I saw a chickadee deliberately 
lying in wait for his breakfast, just as a spider 
would. I was passing a Norway spruce when I 
caught sight of him pecking away on the under 
side of one of the lower branches. Soon he pulled 
out a large white chrysalis-like ball, flew up ona 
branch and sat there till he disposed of it. Then 
he went back and hung himself, upside down, to 
the branch, just below the place where the first 
morsel had come from. Balder, my big New- 
foundland, and I were within five feet of the little 
rogue, but he did not care for that. There he 
clung for as much as two or three minutes, per- 
fectly motionless except when he turned his head 
to give us a preoccupied look. Then suddenly he 
picked down and drew out a small white worm, 
and flew up into the branch with a triumphant 
little cry, as much as to say, “ Ha, ha, I got you 
after all!” 
