AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



77 



The Lost Mate. 



"Chickadee dee, Chick a dee dee 



No bird of the winter so merry and free; 



Yet sad is my iieart, though my song one 



of glee 

 For my mate ne'er shall hear my chick a 



dee dee." 



The last day of winter, a cold 

 windy day, I went out on the hill 

 side of an old apple orchard, to see 

 if the bluebirds, who usually make 

 their homes there, had yet arrived, 

 and finding none went on to the 

 edge of a wood listening to a flock of 

 Chickadees as they repeatedly told 

 their names, as very few birds are 

 willing to do, so plainly. Now and 

 then one would give their plaintive 

 little love song of "phoebe" and 

 from a distant tree, made sweeter 

 by the distance "phoe-be" "phoe- 

 be." A little apart from the other 

 trees came the most mournful bit of 

 bird music I ever heard, and for a 

 time I thought I must be near some, 

 to me, unknown bird, but on follow- 

 ing up the new song I came directly 

 upon a dear little Chickadee, all 

 alone, and he confidingly repeated 

 over and over to me, these three 

 syllables: — "poor bird- ie" "poor 

 bird- ie" in the most plaintive, 

 mournful tones 1 ever heard. For 

 nearly half an hour 1 remained with 

 him, hoping, in vain, to hear one 



note from the little fellow that would 

 show him to be after all, the bright, 

 sociable, happy bird I had always 

 known, but he constantly mourned 

 for the "poor bird-ie" until I felt 

 sure that his chosen mate must 

 have met with some sad end, and I 

 went home to examine all my bird 

 books, but I found no mention of 

 the sad song, Emerson says 



"Thy call in spring 

 As 'twould accost some frivolous wing, 

 Crying out of the hazel copse, Phoe-be 

 And in winter Chick-a-dee-dee." 



Bicknell speaks of "a short run 

 of low, musically modulated notes, 

 in fact a short warble." I have for 

 years known the Chickadee and 

 never before heard their song of 

 mourning. 



Rest H. Metcalf. 



Exhibit of Birds atnd In- 

 sects. 



The Bird Protective Association of 

 America will have an exhibition at the 

 Pan-Amerioan exposition which will in- 

 terest bird lovers and agriculturists. The 

 exhibit will consist of infested sections of 

 trees on which will be mounted the de- 

 stroying insects in their stages of develop- 

 ment, together with the birds that eat 

 these particular insects. It is the first ex- 

 hibit of the sort, and will convey a great 

 many lessons. 



