60 SOME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



and prim — tliaii are the plumes of its black-capped c usin, so ^ 

 the Hudsonian's nest built with more careful workiaanship and 

 fashioned with more grace, and the Hudsonian's voice sounds 

 somewhat sharper and clearer, the notes being uttered with greater 

 precision. 



The color worn by our two species differs considerably. The 

 black -capped is ashy gray above, with a crown of black and a patch 

 of the same hue on the throat ; the cheeks are patched with white. 

 The under parts are of a dull, grayish white, the flanks being 

 washed with a huffish tint. The upper parts of the Hudsonian are 

 dull brown, which grows darker on the head. The throat bears a 

 patch of brownish black, and the cheeks are white. The under 

 parts are grayish white. Both species are about five and a half 

 inches long from tip to tip. 



The nest of the Hudsonian chickadee is a fine example of bird 

 architecture. The birds make their own excavations, selecting a 

 stump that is sufficiently decayed to make drilling possible with 

 their tiny and weak bills. They usually enter from the top of the 

 stump, — though I have seen a nest the entrance to which was on 

 the side of the stump, as is the rule with the black-capped. The 

 excavation, at the entrance, is about two inches in diameter, and 

 this size is maintained for about six inches, when it is gradually 

 widened to about three inches in diameter, and this width is con- 

 tinued to the bottom — about twelve or fifteen inches from the top 

 of the stump. At the bottom of the cavity the birds place a cushion 

 of dried moss, an inch or so in thickness, and upon this place a 

 second cushion made of the inner fur of the common hare. Upon 

 this latter is placed the cup-shaped nest, made also of the same 

 fur compactly felted — so strongly put together that the nest will 

 stand handling without losing its form. The walls of one nest I 

 examined were two and a half inches high, and half an inch thick, 

 and were formed on such graceful lines as to make the nest an 

 object of real beauty. There was no other material used as a lining, 

 but the interior had a soft, woolly surface not observable on the 

 ovtside. 



The female lays five to eight eggs, and as many as ten have been 

 found in a nest of the Hudsonian, though just how so many are 



