THE CHICKADEE, OR BLACK-CAPPED 

 TITMOUSE 



Head and throat black; cheeks white; back drab; rump 

 yellowish; under parts yellowish-white; wings and tail edged 

 with white. Length, five inches. 



Nest made of moss, hair, wool and feathers and located 

 in a cavity of a stump or a tree. Sometimes the deserted nest 

 of a Downy Woodpecker is used. Eggs, five to eight, specked 

 with brownish-red, .60 x .50 inches. 



This bird remains all the year in the Northern States and 

 in summer it ranges as far north as the Arctic Circle. It is 

 more abundant here in winter than in §ummer because the 

 birds from the far north return to this latitude to winter. 

 Being well covered with loose downy feathers, it does not suffer 

 from the coldest weather. Its cheerfulness' under all conditions 

 is unbounded. Amidst sunshine or storm its happy song of 

 Chick-a-dee-dee-dee may be heard ringing out. 



Though fond of several kinds of food, its principal diet 

 consists of the eggs and larvae of destructiye insects found on 

 trees. Carefully it inspects bark and leaves, running up or 

 down the trunk equally well and often performing wonderful 

 acrobatic feats in its prying search for something to eat. If it 

 were working for wages, it could not be more painstaking in 

 its helpfulness. One Chickadee destroys rnyriads of eggs and 

 insects in a year, thus rendering great service to man. 



Formerly the Chickadees were common in city parks and 

 on lawns, but now they are found mainly in the woods. Doubt- 

 less the increase of tree-pests in cities is largely due to the 



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