AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



361 



CHICKADEE. 



A. O. U. No. 735. (Parus atrlcapiUas.) 



RANGE. 



Eastern North America, north of the Potomac and Ohio Valleys. A 

 resident and breeds wherever found. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length 5.25 in.; extent 8 in.; tail 2.5 in. Whole top of head, chin 

 and throat, black. Rest of upper parts brownish gray. Sides of head 

 white; under parts dull whitish, shading into brownish on the flanks. 

 Feathers of the wings and tail edged with whitish. vSubspecies; — 735a. 

 Long-tailed Chickadee (P. a. septentrionalis.) Found in the Rocky 

 Mountain region and east to the Plains. Slightly larger than the east- 

 ■ern Chickadee and the tail averages from a quarter to a half inch 

 longer. The black of the throat extends down on the breast and the 

 white of the head is purer than in the eartern bird. No. 735b. Oregon 

 Chickadee (P. a. occidentalis.) Northwest coast region from Cali- 

 fornia to Alaska. Similar to the common Chickadee except that the 

 whites are duller and the sides heavily washed with brownish. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



brown. 



Chickadees nest 

 in holes in trees, 

 posts or fences. 

 These may be 

 either dug by the 

 birds or natural 

 excavations. The 

 bottom of the nest 

 is from three to 

 eight inches from 

 the opening and is 

 thickly covered 

 with downy feath- 

 ers, hair, mosses, 

 etc. They lay 

 from five to eight 

 white eggs that 

 are finely specked 



LEAVING THE NEST. with TCddish 



Sets are generally complete about the latter part of May. 



