The Chickadee 243 



It's impossible to do more than touch upon the habits of this delightful 

 bird in a leaflet like this. An adequate history of its bright and cunning 

 ways, its many expedients and devices, would fill a 

 book. Its chief apparent characteristics, from a An Optimist 

 human point of view, are courage, optimism, industry, 

 activity, helpfulness, and joy in life. Emerson calls the Chickadee "a 

 scrap of valor." One gifted writer says of its activity: 



Chickadee refuses to look down for long upon the world ; or indeed 

 to look at any one thing from any direction for more than two consecu- 

 tive twelfths of a second. "Any side up, without care," is the label he 

 bears ; and so with anything he meets, be it a pine-cone, an alder-catkin, 

 or a bug-bearing branchlet ; topside, bottomside, inside, outside, all is 

 right side to the nimble Chickadee Blind-man's buff, hide-and- 

 seek, and tag are merry games enough when played out on one plane; 

 but when staged in three dimensions, with a labyrinth of interlacing 

 branches for hazard, only the blithe bird whose praises we sing could 

 promptly master their intricacies. 



Although he is no fly catcher, the Chickadee takes insects on the 

 wing with ease, and often catches in the air those 

 which fall from the trees or from his own clutch. 



I have seen a Chickadee reach after a flying insect, 

 spring back downward, catch it in> the air, and, turning a somersault, 

 alight on a branch below. Another swung completely around a branch, 

 like a gymnast doing the "giant swing." Every pose possible to a bird 

 in a tree is taken by our little acrobat. His head turns quickly from side 

 to side, his wings and tail flirt this way and that, as he turns, twists, 

 pecks, and peers in pursuit of the insects which form the greater part 

 of his food. Often his prying habits lead him to the hiding-place of a 

 dozing owl, and then, no matter how large and powerful the enemy. 

 Chickadee raises the alarm and sounds the attack, stirring and leading 

 the feathered mob which gathers to execrate the common foe. 



Notwithstanding his small size, this diminutive, black-capped bird is 

 a leader. After the breeding-season, he is almost always the central 

 figure and foremost spirit of a little band of warblers, nuthatches, creep- 

 ers and kinglets, and is frequently followed by a 

 woodpecker or two. In autumn, Chickadees gather 

 into bands of one or more families and scour the 

 woods, searching out the most favorable localities for their food. Migrat- 

 ing warblers follow their call, knowing that it always leads them to 

 food. Chickadee knows the ground ; he has spied out the land, and in- 

 vites all to join in his good cheer. 



Follow the Chickadee, and you will see, sooner or later, most of the 

 woodland birds. lUit he is not. by am means, confined to the woods. 

 He visits the orchard and the shade-trees, picks up crumbs at the farm- 

 house door, enters the wood-shed, picks out borers from the firewood, 

 and helps himself to the bacon that the fanner uses to grease his buck- 



