WINTER PENSIONERS 89 



The crumbs prove to be appetizing, and by 

 the time he has swallowed a few of them he 

 seems to forget how he came in, and instead of 

 backing out, as a reasonable being like a chick- 

 adee might be expected to do, he flies to another 

 light of the bay window. Then, lest he should 

 injure himself, I must get up and catch him and 

 show him to the door. By the time I have done 

 this two or three times within half an hour, I 

 begin to find it an interruption to other work, 

 and put down the window. White-breasted nut- 

 hatches and downies come often to the outer sill, 

 but only the chickadees ever venture inside. 



These three are our daily pensioners. If they 

 are all in the tree together, as they very often 

 are, they take precedence at the larder according 

 to their size. No nuthatch presumes to hurry 

 a woodpecker, and no chickadee ever thinks of 

 disturbing a nuthatch. He may fret audibly, 

 calling the other fellow greedy, for aught I know, 

 and asking him if he wants the earth ; but he 

 maintains a respectful distance. Birds, like wild 

 things in general, have a natural reverence for 

 size and weight. 



The chickadees are much the most numerous 

 with us, but taking the year together, the wood- 

 peckers are the most constant. My notes record 

 them as present in the middle of October, 1899, 



