THE CAROLINA CHICKADEE. 



Parus carolinensis. 



As one walks through the forest, either 

 in winter when the snow is deep, or in 

 summer when the sun is highest, the 

 stillness will be broken from time to time 

 by the merry "Chicka-dee-dee," "day, 

 day," or "hey-de, hey-de," coming from 

 a little throat only a few feet away. 



The Carolina Chickadee is very sim- 

 ilar to the blackcapped chickadee with 

 the exception that it has a decidedly 

 shorter tail. Its range is also different, 

 being seldom found north of a line ex- 

 tending from New Jersey, through cen- 

 tral Indiana, west to Texas and Indian 

 Territory. The blackcapped is seldom 

 found south of this line. 



The nest of this bird is a very cozy 

 affair sheltered in a hollow snag or post. 

 It often takes advantage of the deserted 

 home of a downy woodpecker to make 

 its nest. It also frequently excavates a 

 cavity in some rotten snag or tree trunk. 

 As soft wood is preferred one generally 

 finds the nest in a willow snag. I found 

 a nest of this interesting little bird in a 

 rotten willow snag only a few feet from 

 a small stream. The stump was so de- 

 cayed that I could easily have pushed it 

 over. The excavation had been recently 

 done, because fresh bits of wood were 

 scattered about the ground. Looking in 

 at the hole, which was about four feet 

 from the ground, I could easily see the 

 nest and eggs in the cavity some ten 

 inches below. Desiring to study it more 

 closely and to obtain a photograpli, I 

 carefully pushed my knife through the 

 soft trunk and pried off a large slab, 

 This exposed the cavity and the nest. 

 The nest was a beautiful soft affair, com- 

 posed of hair, feathers, down, etc., and 

 contained seven small, pinkish white 



eggs, spotted with reddish brown most 

 profusely at the larger end. 



I then carefully replaced the slab and 

 tied it on securely, trusting I had not 

 disturbed the home too much to prevent 

 further nesting. 



When I again passed the nest an hour 

 later and looked in I met the gaze of a 

 pair of small bead-Hke eyes. The parent 

 bird had returned and had resumed her 

 task, apparently in no way disturbed by 

 the rude attack on her domicile. 



Whenever I desired to examine the 

 progress of development of this small 

 family I had but to remove the door and 

 look in. This was easily done, for the 

 latchstring was always out. About eight 

 days after hatching the young left the 

 nest. 



The Chickadee is one of the farmer's 

 best friends. During the egg-laying sea- 

 son of the canker-worm moth it destroys 

 a great many eggs. Examination of the 

 stomach contents shows between 200 and 

 300 canker-worm eggs in each. It has 

 been estimated that each of these birds 

 destroys 14,000 of these eggs during the 

 month of ^gg laying. The Chickadee has 

 been accused of destroying the buds of 

 fruit trees, but this is not substantiated. 

 It has been found that whenever it at- 

 tacks a bud it does so to secure the worm 

 which has burrowed into the center. 



These birds are doubly useful because 

 they remain with us the entire year and 

 continue their destruction of eggs and 

 larvae. The amount of work done by a 

 pair of these birds in destroying eggs 

 and larvae of injurious insects is more 

 than could be accomplished by any man. 

 They should therefore receive the great- 

 est protection possible. 



J. ROLLIN SlONAKER. 



