THE TITMOUSE. 111 
with which we are familiar; the Black-capped Tit 
mouse, or Chick-a-de-de, and the Crested Titmouse. 
They are both constant residents in the Middle States, 
Summer and Winter; but it is during the severity of 
Winter that we are most accustomed to their appear- 
ance. They then assemble in small troops with the 
Snow Birds and the little Spotted Woodpecker, and 
entering the orchard, or the trees around the house, 
they soon make themselves known by their incessant 
chatter, and great activity in chasing each other from 
tree to tree. The notes of the former, when thus 
engaged, are very rapid, and uttered with considera- 
ble energy, bearing some resemblance to the words 
“‘ See, see, sweet, sevait, chick, chick-a-de-de.” The 
latter has, in addition to his lively twitter, a loud 
whistle, which may be heard for hours together, re- 
peated at intervals as though calling a dog. These 
little birds are apt to build their nests in the de- 
serted hole of a Woodpecker; but frequently, when 
none such are to be found, they will work with great 
perseverance until they have made one for them- 
selves, even picking their way into the trunk or 
branches of some of our hardest wooded trees. As- 
sociated with them may often be seen the Brown 
Creeper, a plain, modest, unassuming little fellow, 
whose utmost ambition seems to be to fill its stomach 
with the dainty little morsels which it picks out from 
the crevices and holes in the trees with its long sharp 
bill 
