72 CAEOLINA CHICKADEE 



down his song as solemnly as if the unconscious 

 songster had been discoursing to them in the lec- 

 ture-room. He was a Carolina Chickadee, and 

 his notes resembled whee-dle-lah^ whee-dle-lee 1 , 

 and seemed a very definite as well as pretty wood- 

 land tune. 



In Missouri, Mr. Nehrling put up nesting- 

 boxes for these little southerners, and was re- 

 warded by having several pairs build about his 

 house. He became much interested in watching 

 them feed their young. " Without interruption 

 from early morning till late in the afternoon," he 

 observes, " the parents keep bringing minute 

 insects, worms, larvae and insect eggs, which they 

 collect from the boughs, bark, and leaves of the 

 trees and shrubs ; " and he concludes, " like all 

 our Titmice, and the rest of our small birds, the 

 Carolina Chickadee is a very useful creature, and 

 should enjoy to its fullest extent man's friendship 

 and protection." 



Mr. Nehrling calls attention to the Chickadees' 

 timidity and flight. They are terrified by the 

 sudden passage of any bird that may be mistaken 

 for a Hawk, he says, " for they know only too well 

 that their powers of flight are sadly deficient, and 

 that escape from an enemy in the open air is 

 almost impossible." He adds that when a flock 

 is about to start across a treeless space, they can 

 be stopped by making a buzzing sound and throw- 

 ing a hat in the air, they are so much in fear of 

 enemies. 



