CHICKADEE 65 



Is it any wonder that he was the first bird I ever 

 felt personally acquainted with ? That early acquaint- 

 ance, however, was not brought about by his great 

 abundance, nor by his very bad, bold manners, as 

 might be with the English sparrow. I got acquainted 

 with him first, because he wanted to get acquainted 

 with me, he is such a cheerful, confiding, sociable 

 little bird ! He drops down and peeps under your 

 hat-brim to see what manner of boy you are, and if 

 you are really fit to be abroad in this beautiful 

 world, so altogether good both summer and winter 

 for chickadees. 



He is not quite so sociable in summer as in win- 

 ter, but if you were no bigger than a chickadee 

 (two and one half inches without your tail !) and 

 had eight babies nearly as big as yourself to hunt 

 grubs for, besides a wife to pet and feed, do you 

 think you could be very sociable? In the winter, 

 however, he is always at liberty to stop and talk 

 to you, a sweet little way he has that makes him the 

 easiest bird in the world to get acquainted with. 



Last winter while I was tying up a piece of suet 

 that had fallen into the snow, a hungry and impatient 

 chickadee lighted on the brim of my felt hat. The 

 brim bent under him, and he came fluttering down 

 against my nose, which I thought for an instant he 

 was going to take for suet ! He did n't snip it off, 

 however, as a certain blackbird did a certain maid- 

 en's nose, but lighted instead on my shoulder. Then ? 



