184 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



head, and scrutinize me with their shining black eyes in a 

 manner amusing to witness. 



Ostensibly, they were searching beneath the bark for their 

 food; but really they were watching me. I once had one 

 perch on my boot, and look in my face with a perfectly plain 

 " what-do-you-want-here " expression on its countenance. 

 Always at short intervals, while perched in trees, and some- 

 times while flying, this bird utters its song, which consists 

 of several notes, that may be described by the syllables 

 cheiveek-a-dee-dee-dee, c7ieweek-a-dee-dee-dee, emitted in a 

 clear, sweet tone, easily recognized, and not to be mistaken 

 for any other song. The flight of this species is wavering, 

 and not protracted; the bird seldom extending it further 

 than from one tree to another. When in the air at any 

 considerable height, it resembles the flight of the Wood- 

 peckers, being undulating and partly gliding. 



In some localities, the Titmouse is regarded as injurious, 

 from the fact that it is often seen among the branches and 

 leaves of the fruit-trees and shrubs, pecking off and destroy- 

 ing the buds. It does not do this to the bud for food, but 

 really for the grub contained in it. If these buds be exam- 

 ined after the Chick-a-dee has thrown them away, the bur- 

 row of a grub or caterpillar will appear in the very heart 

 of them. The bird is able to discover the presence of these 

 vermin much more readily than man could ; and it is thus 

 able to assail them at a period of their existence when they 

 are doing the most harm. But it is not the insects and 

 their larvse alone that he destroys. His microscopic eyes 

 enable him to discover their eggs deposited on and in the 

 crevices of the bark and in the buds, and in an instant he 

 can destroy the whole future brood. The eggs of the moth 

 of the destructive leaf-rolling caterpillar, those of the canker- 

 worm, the apple-tree moth, and others of these well-known 

 plagues, are greedily eaten by it ; and this is in the inclem- 

 ent winter, when most of our other birds have abandoned 

 us for a more genial climate. 



