and "no." I began to think they never would 

 find the place, when the male darted far ahead 

 and went out of sight beneath some low huckle- 

 berry-bushes near a stone wall. This wall ran 

 between the woods and a pasture ; and parallel 

 with it, on the woods side, was a foot-path. 



Up came the little hen, and together they 

 scratched about under the leaves. Suddenly the 

 cock flew away and fetched a strip of chestnut 

 bark. This he turned over to his wife. Then 

 both birds flew out to the chestnut limbs for 

 bark, and brought their strips back. The home 

 was founded. 



It was the merest cavity, pushed into the dead 

 leaves, with three shreds of bark for first timbers. 

 In less than a week the structure was finished 

 and furnished— with a tiny white egg thickly 

 sprinkled with brown. I watched the spot daily, 

 and finally saw the four young warblers safely 

 out into their new woods-world. But from the 

 day the first egg was laid until the nestlings left 

 I constantly expected to find everything crushed 

 under the foot of some passer-by. 



When free from household cares the chickadee 

 is the most sociable of the birds of the woods. 

 [160] 



