THE CHICKADEE. 19 



throated Green Warbler, a Chickadee dropped into the side 

 of an old stump, just a few feet before me. The hole 

 which it entered was near the top, about two feet and a 

 half from the ground; and as the stump was mellow, it 

 was not many minutes before I had sufficiently enlarged 

 the passage with my jack-knife to get a good view of the 

 inside. I have often felt the subduing influence of the 

 familiar, trustful ways of this little bird, but never did it 

 seem so gentle and confiding as now, peering up at me with 

 such a mingled look of surprise and firmness, which, to say 

 the least, was very disconcerting to an oologist.' The exca- 

 vation was new, and evidently made by the bird itself. The 

 nest consisted of a loose but well-made felt of moss, fibres 

 of bark, down and hair. For safety and softness few nests 

 could surpass it. The seven eggs -were a little smaller than 

 those of the common Wren, some .64 x .51, of a delicate, 

 flesh-tinted white, minutely dotted with red, the marks 

 thickening and running together at the large end. In all 

 respects this nest 'is representative. The nesting of any 

 bird, however, is subject to variation. Sometimes the 

 Chickadee makes its own excavation in a green tree, and 

 sometimes it appropriates the abandoned nest of the Downy 

 Woodpecker. It feeds especially on the larvae and eggs of- 

 insects. 



About the size of a canary, some 55.25 long, and 7.758.25 

 in extent, its bill is short, somewhat thick, straight and 

 strong; its head is large and its neck short, body plump 

 and tail longish; it is deep, glossy black on the head, down 

 the back of the neck and on the throat; cheeks pure white; 

 upper parts dark drab, much lighter and yellowish on the 

 rump; and of the same color, or somewhat lighter, under- 

 neath. These markings are strongly contrasted, and render 

 the bird a conspicuous object at any time of year; but at 



