CHICKADEE. 45 



squirrel or rabbit fur that made it snug and 

 warm. I was tempted to wonder where the fur 

 came from had this innocent chickadee tweaked 

 it out of the back of some preoccupied animal ? 

 Perhaps the demure little recluse has a spice of 

 wickedness after all, and its satisfaction in its se- 

 cure retreat has something of exultant mischief 

 in it! 



In any case, it sometimes takes unfair advan- 

 tage, for this fall I saw a chickadee deliberately 

 lying in wait for his breakfast, just as a spider 

 would. I was passing a Norway spruce when I 

 caught sight of him pecking away on the under 

 side of one of the lower branches. Soon he pulled 

 out a large white chrysalis-like ball, flew up on a 

 branch and sat there till he disposed of it. Then 

 he went back and hung himself, upside down, to 

 the branch, just below the place where the first 

 morsel had come from. Balder, my big New- 

 foundland, and I were within five feet of the little 

 rogue, but he did not care for that. There he 

 clung for as much as two or three minutes, per- 

 fectly motionless except when he turned his head 

 to give us a preoccupied look. Then suddenly he 

 picked down and drew out a small white worm, 

 and flew up into the branch with a triumphant 

 little cry, as much as to say, " Ha, ha, I got you 

 after all!" 



