THE CIIICK-A-DEE. 383 



sometimes while flying, this bird utters its song, which consists of sev- 

 eral notes, that may be described by the syllables chewetik-a-dee-di:e-dee, 

 chewC-eL--u-dte-det-dee, emitted in a clear, sweet tone, easily recognized, 

 and not to be mistaken fur any otlier song. Tlie flight of this species is 

 wavering, and not protracted ; tiie bird seldom extending it farther than 

 from one tree to anotlier. "N^'iien in the air, at any considerable hei'dit, it 

 resembles tlie flight of the woodpeckers, being undulating and partly sliding. 



In some localities the titmouse is regarded as injurious, from the fact that 

 it is often seen among the brandies and leaves of the fruit trees and shrubs, 

 pecking off and destroying tlie biids. It does not do this to tlie bud for 

 food, but really for the grub contained iu it. If these buds be examined 

 after the ciiickadee has thrown them awav, the burrow of a "rub or catcr- 

 pilhir will appear in tlie very heart of tliem. The bird is able to discover 

 the presence of these vcrniiu mucli more readily tlian man Cduid, and it is 

 thus able to assail them at a period of their existence wlicn they are doing 

 the most harm. But it is not the insects and their lar\a' alone that he 

 destroys. Ilis microscopic eyes enable him to discover tlicir eggs deposited 

 on and in the crevices of the bark and in the buds, and in an instant he can 

 destroy the wliole future brood. Tlie eggs of the moth of the destructive 

 leaf-rolling caterpillar, those of the canker-worm, the apple-tree moth, and 

 others of these well-known plagues, are greedily eaten by it ; and this is in 

 the inclement winter, when most of our other birds have abandoned us for a 

 more genial climate. 



In the summer time, the chickadee's labors are more easily noticed; and 

 as he raises a large brood of young, the female laying six or eight eggs at a 

 litter, he is very busy through the whole day in capturing vast cpiantitics of 

 caterpillars, flies, and grubs. It has been calculated that a single pair of 

 these birds destroy, on the average, not less than five hundred of these pests 

 daily: a labor which could hardly be surpassed Ijy a man, even if he gave 

 his whole time to the task. 



" ^loreover, the man coidd not be as successful at so small a cost ; for, 

 setting aside the value of his time and the amount of a laborer's daily wages, 

 he could not reach the denser and loftier twigs on which the caterpillars 

 revel, and which the titmouse can traverse with perfect ease. No man can 

 investigate a tree, and clear it of the insect hosts that constantly beleaguer 

 it, without doing some damage to the buds and young leaves by his rough 

 handling ; whereas the chickadee trips along the branches, peeps under 

 every leaf, swings liimself round upon his perch, spies out every insect, and 

 secures it with a peck so rapid that it is hardly perceptible." 



In some observations made on the habits of this and some other birds in 

 Paris, it was found that the titmouse destroys, at the lowest computation, 



