^372 THE WINTER BIRDS. 



sight of one another. One, on finding itself alone, will 

 leave its quest for food and chirp until it hears a re- 

 sponse, when it resumes its feeding. The call-notes of 

 this species are very lively, with a mixture of queru- 

 lousness in their tone which is not unpleasant. 



The Chickadee is the smallest of our winter birds. He 

 is a permanent resident, and everybody knows him. He is 

 a lively chatterer and an agreeable companion ; and as he 

 never tarries long in one place, he does not tire us with 

 his garrulity. He is our attendant on all our pleasant 

 winter walks, in the orchard and the wood, in the garden 

 and by the roadside. We have seen him on still winter 

 days flitting from tree to tree, with the liveliest motions 

 and the most engaging attitudes, examining every twig 

 and branch, and after a few sprightly notes hopping to 

 another tree, to pass through the same manoeuvres. Even 

 those who are confined to the house are not excluded 

 from a sight of these birds. We cannot open a window 

 on a bright winter's morning without a greeting from one 

 of them on the nearest tree. 



Beside the note from which the Chickadee derives his 

 name, he utters occasionally two very plaintive notes, 

 which are separated by a true musical interval, making 

 a third on the descending scale. 



They slightly resemble those of the Pewee, and are often 

 mistaken for them; but they are not drawling or mel- 

 ancholy, and do not slide from one note to another 

 without an interval. I do not know the circumstances 

 that prompt the bird to repeat this plaintive strain; 

 but it is uttered both in summer and winter. It has, 

 therefore, no connection with love or the care of the 



