CHICKADEE. 179 



TITMICE AND NUTHATCHES. (FAMILY PARID^E.) 



Comparing the Titmice with the Nuthatches, the 

 former may be described as short-billed birds with long 

 tails who do not creep, the latter as long-billed birds 

 with short tails who do creep. The two groups are, in 

 fact, quite distinct, and by some systematists are placed 

 in separate families. 



The Titmice number some seventy-five species, four 

 of which are found in eastern North America. The 

 Chickadee, commonest and most generally distrib- 

 Parus atricapiiius. uted is the Black-capped Chickadee, 

 which is found from Labrador to Mary- 

 land and in the Alleghanies southward to North Carolina. 

 Farther south it is replaced by the closely allied Carolina 

 Chickadee. 



Throughout the greater part of its range the Chickadee 

 is found at all seasons, but it is less common in the middle 

 and southern New England States in summer than in win- 

 ter, and is most numerous during its migration in October. 



It is with winter that these merry little black and 

 white midgets are generally associated. Their tameness, 

 quaint notes, and friendly ways make them unusually com- 

 panionable birds; one need not lack for society when 

 Chickadees are to be found. Many of their notes are 

 especially conversational in character, and in addition to 

 the familiar chickadee call, they have a high, sweet, 

 plaintive two- or three-noted whistle. 



The Chickadee nests about the middle of May, select- 

 ing some suitable cavity or making one for himself in a 

 decayed trunk or limb and lining it with moss, plant- 

 down, and feathers. The eggs, five to eight in number, 

 are white, spotted and speckled, chiefly at the larger end, 

 with cinnamon or reddish brown. 

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