20 Birds Every Child Should Know 



are only a harmless mimic. He is very inquis- 

 itive. Although not a bird may be in sight 

 when you first whistle his call, nine chances out 

 of ten there will be a faint echo from some far 

 distant throat before very long ; and by repeat- 

 ing the notes at short intervals you will have, 

 probably, not one but several echoes from as 

 many different chickadees whose curiosity to 

 see you soon gets the better of their appetites 

 and brings them flying, by easy stages, to the 

 tree above your head. Where there is one 

 chickadee there are apt to be more in the neigh- 

 bourhood; for these sociable, active, cheerful 

 little black-capped fellows in gray Hke to himt 

 for their living in loose scattered flocks through- 

 out the fall and winter. When they come near 

 enough, notice the pale rusty wash on the sides 

 of their under parts which are more truly dirty 

 white than gray. Chickadees are wonderfully 

 tame: except the chipping sparrow, perhaps 

 the tamest birds that we have. Patient people, 

 who know how to whistle up these friendly 

 sprites, can sometimes draw them close enough 

 to touch, and an elect few, who have the special 

 gift of winning a wild bird's confidence, can in- 

 duce the chickadee to alight upon their hands. 



Blessed with a thick coat of fat under his soft, 

 fiufTy gray feathers, a hardy constitution and a 

 sunny disposition, what terrors has the winter 

 for him? When the thermometer goes down, 



