248 CHICKADEE. 



Titmice and Nuthatches. (Family Parid^e.) 



Comparing the Titmice witli tlie Nutliatches, the 

 former may he described as short-billed birds with long 

 tails who do not creep, the latter as long-billed birds 

 with short tails who do creep. The two groups are, in 

 fact, quite distinct, and by some sjstematists are placed 

 in separate families. 



The Titmice number some seventy-five species, four 



of which are found in eastern North America. The 



Chickadee commonest and most generally distrib- 



Farus atrim/>i/ius. uted is the Black-cappcd Chickadee, 



Plate LXX. which is found from Labrador to Mary- 

 land and in the Alleghanies southward to North Carolina. 

 Farther south it is rejilaced by the closely allied Carolina 

 Chickadee. 



Throughout the greater part of its range the Chickadee 

 is found at all seasons, but it is less common in the middle 

 and southern New England States in summer than in win- 

 ter, and is most numerous during its migration in Octoljer. 



It is with winter that these merry little black and 

 white midgets are generally associated. Their tameness, 

 quaint notes, and friendly ways make them unusually com- 

 panionable birds ; one need not lack for society when 

 Chickadees are to be found. Many of their notes are 

 especially conversational in character, and in addition to 

 the familiar clm-kadee call, they have a high, sweet, 

 plaintive two- or three-noted whistle. 



The Chickadee nests about the middle of May, select- 

 ing some suitable cavity or making one for himself in a 

 decayed trunk or liml) and lining it with moss, plant- 

 down, and feathers. The eggs, five to eight in numl)er, 

 are white, spotted and speckled, chiefly at the larger end, 

 with cinnamon or reddish brown. 



