242 The Chickadee 



.widely over the northern hemisphere, and highly serviceable to civilized 

 mankind. Our Black-capped Chickadee may be found at some, if not 

 all, seasons of the year in eastern Canada and the northeastern United 

 States, where it is the prevailing woodland bird, particularly in winter. 



A hole in a decayed birch-stump, two or three feet from the ground, a 

 knot-hole in an old apple-tree, in a fence-post, or in an elm, forty or fifty 

 feet from the ground, the deserted home of some woodpecker, or a 

 nesting-box, may be selected by the Chickadee for its 

 Nell-hole home. Commonly it digs out a nest-hole in the decay- 



ing stump of a birch or pine. It is unable to penetrate 

 sound wood, for I have seen it try to enlarge a small hole in a white-pine 

 nesting-box, but fail to start a chip. Often the Chickadee gains an 

 entrance through the hard outer coating of a post or stump into the 

 decaying interior by choosing, as a vantage-point, a hole made by some 

 woodpecker in search of a grub. The Chickadee works industriously to 

 deepen and enlarge this cavity, sometimes making a hole nine or more 

 inches deep ; and the little bird is wise enough to carry the tell-tale chips 

 away and scatter them far and wide something the woodpeckers are 

 less careful to do. Sometimes the hole is excavated in the broken top of 

 a leaning stump or tree, and once I found one in the top of an erect white- 

 pine stump with no shelter from the storm. 



The nest is placed at the bottom of the hole, and is made of such warm 

 materials as cottony vegetable fibers, hairs, wool, mosses, feathers, and 

 insects' cocoons. Every furry denizen of the woods, and some domestic 

 animals, may sometimes contribute hair or fur to the Chickadee's nest. 

 One nest was made entirely of cotton that had been placed in a nesting- 

 box for the use of the birds. 



The eggs vary somewhat in color, but are commonly white, spotted 

 with reddish brown or finely marked with a paler 

 shade. Both birds take turns in sitting, and the eggs 

 hatch in about eleven days, the last one laid requiring 

 sometimes twelve or thirteen days. The young leave the nest in about 

 two weeks from the date of hatching. Sometimes two broods are reared 

 in a season. 



Chickadee is a very attentive little husband, often visits his mate 

 while she is sitting on her eggs, and, besides relieving her of a part of 

 this labor, frequently feeds her on the nest. 



The Chickadee has named himself, and repeats his name often, with 

 several additional dee-dees or chee-dees. Toward spring, he sometimes 

 attempts to "pour out his soul in song," but a few jingling notes represent 

 his finest efforts. The long, pensive, musical phccbe, which he utters 

 most often at that season, given with the first note accented and the last 

 falling, is regarded by many writers as his song, but it is uttered by 

 both sexes. The young in the nest give a faint and wheezing imitation 

 of the chicadee, and, when they cry all together, their combined voices 

 suggest the hissing of some huge snake. 



