THE FOREST 173 



tions of birds are surprisingly regular, they are 

 not always on calendar dates, as is the popular 

 belief, but are much influenced by the weather. 



When the forest was still in its early child- 

 hood, song sparrows, yellow warblers and Mary- 

 land yellow-throats enjoyed nesting in its bushy 

 precincts. A pair of tree swallows nested in a 

 box on a spindling ash tree, and another pair in 

 a hollow tree trunk brought from the dunes. As 

 the forest grew, these nesting sites became too 

 shaded and hidden for the swallows, and, to my 

 great joy a pair of chickadees occupied the box. 



The history of the chickadees' adoption of the 

 forest as a home is worth relating. Chickadees 

 have been occasional winter visitors to my farm 

 but, with the summer, they disappeared to more 

 congenial regions. They do not care for grass 

 fields and gardens, but need woods for their 

 domestic life. I therefore set deliberately to 

 work to make my place attractive to them all 

 the year. In winter I put food on a feeding 

 shelf and provided an automatic feeder to act 

 in my absence. As a consequence, several chick- 

 adees were always to be seen about the place that 



