A BIRD'S-NEST HUNTER. 95 



this part of the chickadese vocabulary right 

 at their tongues' end, as we say, before 

 making their debut in the great world. 



But it was reserved for my third pair of 

 tits to give me a genuine surprise. I had 

 been so constant a visitor at their house 

 that I had come to feel myself quite on 

 terms of intimacy with them. So, after 

 their brood was hatched, I one day climbed 

 into the tree (as I had done more than once 

 before), the better to overlook their paren- 

 tal labors. I had hardly placed myself in a 

 comfortable seat before the couple returned 

 from one of their foraging expeditions. 

 The male or the one that I took for such 

 had a black morsel of some kind in his 

 bill, which, on reaching the tree, he passed 

 over to his mate, who forthwith carried it 

 into the hollow stub, in the depths of which 

 the hungry little ones were. Then the male 

 flew off again, and presently came back with 

 another beakful, which his helpmeet took 

 from him at the door, where she had been 

 awaiting his arrival. After this perform- 

 ance had been repeated two or three times, 

 curiosity led me to stand up against the 

 stub, with my hand resting upon it; at 



