AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



349 



DOMESTICATING THE CHICKADEE. 



N the September number of this magazine, 

 some of the results of our attempts to tame 

 wild Blue Jays were related. The aim 

 in that case was merely to allay the abnor- 

 mal suspicions, as to human intentions, which 

 seem to have become a part of the Jay 

 nature, and to teach the birds to come to our 

 windows to be fed. 



Incidentally an attempt was made to do 

 still more with the Chickadee, which being 

 naturally unsuspicious, can be tamed by any 

 one who has a little spare time and some 

 patience. 



It is now well known that, in forest or or- 

 chard, the Chickadee is one of the most use- 

 ful birds, and that, so far as known, it has no 

 habit of destroying any of the products of husbandry. 



If such birds as this can be brought to put their confidence in man, 

 to leave the woods where they now breed in hollow trees, and 

 to take up their abode in dwellings prepared for them about our build- 

 ings, no doubt their numbers can be so increased under our protection, 

 that the good they now do will be multiplied many fold. It is well known 

 that in Europe many kinds of birds which once regularly bred in hol- 

 low trees, in caves, or under overhanging banks or rocks have so 

 changed their habits that for hundreds of years they have nested in, or 

 about, buildings, chimneys, walls, or in bird boxes put up for their 

 accommodation. 



It is also well known that our newer American civilization has in- 

 duced similar changes in bird habits and even in bird distribution. 

 The Chimney Swift, Tree Swallow, Purple Martin, Bluebird, and House 

 Wren have found nesting places provided for them in or near our dwell- 

 ings, and in many cases they have occupied these from choice, even 

 before their former homes, the dead and hollow trees of the forest, had 

 been cut down. 



The Phoebe and Barn Swallow, finding that the dwellings of man afford- 

 ed more secure retreats than cliffs or caves, have become widely distribut- 

 ed along the lines of human emigration. The Night Hawks now breed, 

 to some extent, on the flat roofs of large city blocks. In Europe cer- 

 tain Woodpeckers and Titmice are among the birds which have now be- 

 come semi-domesticated, and occupy dwellings put up for them by the 



