CHICKADEES 



611 



It contained six young birds, well covered with dark feathers, 

 which were probably about a week out of the shell, and they 

 filled the nest so completely that it was a question how they 

 would all be able to exist and reach maturity in these narrow 

 quarters. 



The old birds were engaged in feeding the young, and the 

 fact of one having a woodland moth — species unknown — in 

 its bill first led me to suspect a brood of nestlings might be 

 near. Both birds were seen and positively identified through 

 my glass at a distance of about thirty feet before the nest was 

 discovered. While I was examining the nest, the bird with 

 the moth in its bill, presumably the female, as she was the most 

 fearless of the pair, flew to within seven or eight feet of my 

 head and nearly on a level with it, showing the greatest anxi- 

 ety and uttering piteous cries. Her call notes before I 

 approached the nest were similar to the following syllables: 

 " tswee-chee ya-a-a-ck " (emphasis on last syllable and with 

 rising inflection) and were uttered at intervals of five or six 

 seconds quite constantly. The male was apparently not as 

 anxious as his mate, nor did I hear any note from him during 

 my stay in the vicinity of near a half hour. I could not remain 

 longer to study this interesting family, and after carefully mark- 

 ing the spot, returned home intending to return and secure 

 material proof of the bird's identity, but business detained me 

 and I was not able to visit the place again until July first, an 

 absence of ten days, when I found the nest empty. From its 

 appearance I had no doubt that the young brood had occupied 

 it until within a day or so, and expected to find them near, 

 but a search of the surrounding territory failed to discover any 

 trace of them. 



The stub containing the nest was secured and the nest lining 

 examined, which proved to consist mainly of vegetable down 

 from ferns and what appeared to be the fur of the northern 

 hare or rabbit, nicely felted together. This record of Parus 

 hudsonicus would appear to indicate a later season for nesting 



