179 



They nest in holes in trees. Their eggs, six or eight in number, are 

 deposited early in May. They generally select solitary places for 

 nesting, and arc particularly attached to the stunted oak-trees that 

 grow on the mountain tops, ami ledges, near the river. On May llth, 

 1876, I found a pair of Chickadees that were building their nest in a 

 hole, in a tree that stood in a swamp. The birds were collecting ma- 

 terials for its construction. They gathered a sort of cottony fuzz 

 that grew upon the stems of some tall ferns ; alighting at the bases of 

 these plants, they ascended, gleaning, to the very tops, which often 

 bent down under their weight until they Touched the water, when they 

 flew to another plant. In this way they gleaned among the ferns 

 until they had accumulated bundles of this substance in their bills, as 

 large as hickory nuts, before depositing it in the tree. Both male and 

 female were working at once. Their timidity often leads them to 

 build their nests in the middle of a stream or morass. Of man, how- 

 ever, they have little fear. Being very fond of flesh, a strip of meat 

 fastened to the porch, is quite sufficient an aitraction to bring numbers 

 of them about the house. I have been amused to see them taking 

 liberties with the salted mackerels that the farmers hang out of doors 

 to make them sweet. They are hardy, vivacious little birds, often 

 coming about the dwellings, where their sprightly manners and cheery 

 notes make them familiar to all. They have quite a variety of notes, 

 and among them a very singular love note that I first heard April 30th, 

 1878. I saw two of them feeding in a pine-tree, by the river, that at- 

 tracted my attention by a singular shivering note that was quite new 

 to me. They were caressing one another, and, at the moment of utter- 

 ance, were passing food from one bill to another. On search, I dis- 

 covered their nest, which was placed in a decayed branch of an oak- 

 tree, on the edge of a cliff. I sometimes see Chickadees in New York 

 city. I recollect one morning, walking up Broadway, I heard the 

 characteristic tshe-de-jay, tshe-df-jay, close at hand. I looked about 

 me, but could see nothing of the bird, and began to wonder whether 

 my own thoughts had not translated me from the bustling street into 

 the country woods; but, as I paused, I heard it again, this time its 

 unmistakable 'tshe, daigh daigh daigh; looking overhead, I saw my 

 friend, Parus, perched upon a telegraph wire, critically examining the 

 numerous strands, that formed a network over the street; occasion- 

 ally desisting from this important employment, he would take a cool 

 survey of the scene below ; the prospect in the street evidently pleased 

 him, and the color and bustle had an exhilirating effect on his spirits, 

 so that he would burst forth into a voluble expression of his approval 

 of the goings-on in the great thoroughfare, and it was this that at 

 first attracted my attention. 



Dimensions. Average measurements of thirteen specimens : length, 

 5-27; stretch, 8-02; wing, 2-53; tail, 2-43; culmen, -37; tarsus, -60. 



