164 USEFUL BIRDS. 
summer. It nests in April or May, and sometimes rears 
two broods in a season. The ordinary cheery chattering 
call, from which the bird derives its name, is often varied in 
the milder weather of winter and toward spring by its so- 
called “phcebe” note, a 
musical, whistling call, 
which by the children 
is sometimes translated. 
“Spring’s come.” Now 
and then some peculiarly 
gifted male essays a jumble 
of slightly musical notes, which 
seem to be an attempt to express 
Fig. 49.— Chickadee, one-half the unconquerable cheerfulness of 
natural size. 
its nature; but the Chickadee’s at- 
tempts at song never give very brilliant results. Neverthe- 
less, the little bird is so happy, companionable, and contiding 
that: in New England it is one of the most beloved of the 
feathered race. While, for a bird, it exhibits remarkable 
intelligence in many ways, it seems to confide in man to an 
unusual degree. It is an easy mark for the small boy with 
his air gun, and numbers of these birds fall victims to their 
misplaced confidence in human nature. 
Chickadees sometimes go to the camps of woodchoppers, 
in hard winters, and learn to take food from the hand. One- 
day while I was sitting on the ground in the woods a Chick- 
adee alighted on a branch about two feet away and looked 
up in my face; and they have often hovered within a few 
inches of my head, as if about to alight there. Occasionally 
one may be readily taught to feed from the hand. Minot 
says that they are so merry, genial, and sociable that their 
company is sought by other birds, such as Creepers, Nut- 
hatches, Kinglets, and Woodpeckers, whose habits are like 
their own. This has been observed by every ornithologist, 
but no one seems to have mentioned the fact that many birds 
other than those given above seek the company of the Chick- 
adee fora different reason. Every fall the Warblers, on their 
way south, stop for a time in favorable localities, and accom- 
pany the small roving bands of Chickadees. At this season 
