MY CHICADEE FRIENDS 99 



return to our Chicadees. No sooner had Dee-dee 

 swallowed the morsel of food and wiped her beak 

 on a twig, than she began again to gather moss, 

 while her attentive mate, after watching her in an 

 admix'ing way for a few seconds, flew off in search 

 of further dainties for her who worked so hard. 

 Throughout the two hours or more before the rain 

 came he would continually bring caterpillars and 

 other delicacies and, when he found her busy, 

 would with admirable patience wait near by until 

 she was at liberty to accept them. Never once did 

 he eat the food, even though at times she kept him 

 waiting as much as five minutes while she gathered 

 moss and arranged it to her satisfaction in the dark 

 hollow of the stump. 



At the end of these two hours, large drops of rain 

 fell, gently at first, then gradually faster and faster, 

 until from each green leaf the drops hung like clear 

 round crystals, that were shaken off whenever the 

 cooling breezes passed by and moved the gem-laden 

 branches. It was no time for nest building, and 

 Chicadee and his mate flew off" among the trees and 

 were immediately lost to view. The next day was 

 bright and clear after the rain, and the Chicadees 

 had resumed their interrupted labour long before 1 

 arrived. More moss had been gathered and placed 

 in the hoUow of the decayed birch stump, and on 

 the top of the moss was placed a thick layer of a 

 strange material, nothing less than the silver grey 

 hair of the 'possum,* stolen, no doubt, from some 



* All the chicadees' nests that I found in this localitj (South 

 Orange, N.J.) contained quantities of opossum hair. It is curious, 

 because 'possums are by no means common in the vicinity. 



H 2 



