THE CHEERFUL CHICKADEE 73 



is undoubtedly associated with the love life of the 

 bird 



Some bird writers render this whistle by two notes 

 instead of three, and Thoreau constantly speaks of 

 the Phce-be note of the chickadee. But in many 

 years of constant residence among the chickadees 

 of western Massachusetts I have never heard one 

 which did not break up the second tone clearly 

 and sharply into two quarter-notes, and Mr. Stone 

 agrees with me in this. Nor is it true that the 

 song is confined to spring, though it is then most 

 frequently heard. It comes occasionally out of the 

 depths of the summer pines or the pasture hedge- 

 rows, and very often we hear it floating over the 

 frozen fields of winter, an exquisite and a cheering 

 note, the chickadees* 



"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" 



F. Schuyler Matthews, in his excellent Field Book 

 of Wild Birds and Their Music, says: "Few small 

 birds whistle their songs so clearly, and separate the 

 tones by such lucid intervals. The charm, too, of 

 the chickadee's singing lies in the fact that he 

 knows the value of a well-sustained half -note, an- 

 other point which should be scored in the little musi- 

 cian's favor." Still another is that the chickadee so 

 far recognizes the musical intervals of his song that 

 he will answer those notes when you whistle them. 

 We can go out into our yard at any hour of the day 



