376 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:9— Dec, 19 17 



fully that his visits to the various feeding places were less regular 

 and frequent than usual, and before many days they ceased 

 entirely. Sammy had seemed well, and in good spirits, but from 

 the beginning of our acquaintance there had been strained relations 

 between him and Jimmy. As Jimmy became less inconsiderate 

 of Fluffy, his coldness toward poor Sammy increased perceptibly. 

 Without having positive proof that it was the case, we could not 

 help feeling that Jimmy's unkindness had much to do with 

 Sammy's departure. 



After Sammy went away, Jimmy spent more time with Fluffy 

 in the grape vines on the back porch. Their growing intimacy 

 caused us much anxiety. Handsome and lovable as Jimmy was, 

 we never felt much confidence in his goodness of heart. That he 

 seemed to be improving, we gladly admitted, but, would our 

 precious Fluffy 's happiness be safe in his keeping? 



We had heard of chickadees consenting to live in properly 

 constructed nesting boxes. Would it be possible, we wondered, 

 to keep Fluffy so close to us that we could feed and protect her 

 when she was caring for her nestlings ? 



A young nephew, one of Fluffy's most devoted friends, made a 

 comfortable little house after an approved model. We did not 

 offer her a ready made bird house because as Carl remarked: 

 "her home ought to be made especially for her by one of her own 

 friends." After careful consideration we decided upon the parti- 

 cular spot on the porch column where the interlaced stems of 

 woodbine, grapevine, and clematis afforded protection without 

 interfering with the spring sunshine, and would also provide leafy 

 coolness and shelter from wind and rain as the season advanced. 

 While Carl was putting up her house, Fluffy, undisturbed by the 

 sound of his hammer, swayed on a vine spray, close to his shoulder. 

 As the last nail was put in place, her sweet low twitter rippled into 

 a clear ringing "chickadee-dee-dee," as if she approved of his work 

 and wished to express her appreciation of his efforts in her behalf. 



Surely, we thought, after such an auspicious beginning she 

 would stay with us. 



She often stood on the top of her house, but we never saw her 

 go into it. 



Day after day we watched hopefully, and as Jimmy's attentions 

 became more insistent, we were forced to admit that Fluffy was 

 not wholly indifferent to him. 



