THE NIDIOLOGIST 



CAVE WHERE THE CONDOR S EGG WAS FOUND. 



There was something very graceful in the 

 picture before me of the suspended bird. I 

 wish the camera could have been turned upon 

 her just then as she unrolled that leaf and ex- 

 amined its contents. There was a brightness 

 in her eye that the wintry frost could not dim, 

 a dress of pearly gray, soft and downy, that de- 

 fied the cold, and a military cap set closely on 

 her head of glossy black that gave her a look 

 of jauntiness. ^''Pe-de-de," another came to in- 

 quire what sort of prize had been discovered, 

 and while waiting for an answer another and 

 another till six little Chickadees, all dressed just 

 alike, had gathered around, and curiosity had 

 drawn me closer to the window — when suddenly 

 with a cry sharp and loud, " Chick-a-dee-dee- 

 dee," every bird disappeared like a flash into 

 the adjacent evergreens, and at the same 

 moment, a few rods away, passed by a large 

 Hawk {Bitteo lineatus); turning neither to the 

 right nor left he also disappeared a moment 

 later in the neighboring grove, and I saw noth- 

 ing more of either Buteo or Partis. 



Always with us, and always the same blithe 

 and cheerful little sprite whether icicles hang 

 from the eaves, as to-day, or roses from 

 the spray in sunny June. But though always 

 with us in numbers more or less, there doubt- 

 less is a migratory movement in greater or less 

 degree, since I find them far more numerous at 

 the seasons of general bird migration in spring 

 and fall than at any other time. 



A short distance from, my • place, perhaps 

 thirty rods away, at the border of a marsh, 

 among the trees and bushes that skirt the place, 

 is a decayed maple stub about four inches in 

 diameter, and broken off about five feet from 

 the ground, which has been "he home of a 

 family of Chickadees for four or five years past. 

 The entrance irregular and insignificant (for 

 Pants seems to have no eye to form, beauty, 

 or grace, like Dryobates in his mechanics) is 

 about a foot below the top, and the excavation 

 about eight inches in depth ; outwardly rough, 

 but within is a bed soft as the down of the 

 Eider, gathered from the fronds of the meadow 

 ferns. 



When I first discovered this nest the whole 

 cavity was filled with a hungry brood of 

 young, and the busy parents seemed to devote 

 every moment of day to a dihgent search for 

 food to fill the gaping mouths of their numer- 

 ous progeny. I was led to their nest by their 

 frequent trips to the yard, the garden, and the 

 orchard. 



Throughout the year these visits have be- 

 come a regular occurrence, and I am quite 

 fixed in the conclusion that it is the same 

 family, though they all look as much ahke as 

 Chinamen, and I have never been able to dis- 

 tinguish Jack from Gill, much less call them 

 by their individual names. 



I thought to invite Mrs. Partis that succeed- 

 ing spring to contribute something to my cabi- 



