310 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



means "black haired," and a common name, perhaps 

 as much used as the one mentioned, is " black-capped 

 titmouse." It was of this fluffy little bird in its 

 modest dress of black and gray that Emerson 'wrote 

 as follows : 



11 This poet, though he live apart, 

 Moved by his hospitable heart, 

 Sped, when I passed his sylvan fort, 

 To do the honors of his court, 

 As fits a feathered lord of land ; 

 Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand, 

 Hopped on the bough, then darting low, 

 Prints his small impress on the snow, 

 Shows feats of his gymnastic play, 

 Head downward, clinging to the spray. 



Here was this atom in full breath, 

 Hurling defiance at vast death ; 

 This scrap of valor just for play 

 Fronts the north-wind in waistcoat gray." 



He is indeed a joyful little creature, flitting ever 

 about, hither and thither, clinging to the side of a tree 

 one minute and picking at the moss on a branch the 

 next. His ordinary food consists of the insects which 

 hide in the crevices of bark, spiders' eggs, and, per- 

 haps, the tender buds of trees. 



His winter note of "tche-de-de de-de" is the one 

 most commonly known, but in spring it gives way to 

 a pleasing "phe-be" which is, perhaps, his vernal love 

 call. 



The nest is built in a dead stump or tree in a hole 

 excavated by the bird itself. The eggs are white, 

 sprinkled with reddish brown and measure .58x.47 

 of an inch in size. 



