TWELVE WINTER BIRDS. 



309 



recognized. While searching for insect food it moves 

 by short sudden leaps and flights from branch to 

 branch, suspending itself readily in all attitudes. 



When forest food is scarce it often approaches gar- 

 dens and orchards, and then only do we see it on en- 

 close to the ground, ready to pick or-tear at any veg- 

 etable or animal food which may be to its liking. In 

 summer these winter bevies separate ; and each pair 

 seeks some natural cavity such as a hollow in the fork 

 of a tree or a deserted hole bored by a woodpecker. 

 This is lined with bits of moss, leaves and grass, and 

 in it the eggs, four to six in number, are deposited. 

 In color they are white, sprinkled with reddish-brown 

 and lilac, and measure .75x. 56 of an inch. 



XII. 



The black-capped chickadee is a better known bird 

 than the tufted titmouse, its colors being more strik- 

 ing and its habits more sociable than that species. 



It is also much smaller, measuring but five inches 

 from point of beak to tip of tail. The crown, nape, 

 chin and throat are a rich glossy 

 black, and contrast strongly with 

 the grayish ash of the remainder 

 of the body. 



As stated above, both these 

 birds belong to 



the same family 

 Black=capped 



Chickadee. an( ^ oven to the same genus, so that 



the first part of the Latin name, Pura* 



atricapillus L., is the same for both. Atricapilhis 



Fig. 80 Head of Black- 

 capped Chickadee. 



