THE CHEERFUL CHICKADEE 65 



into her face, then lean forward, take the seed from 

 between her lips as though they were snatching a 

 kiss, and fly off with it. I have seen a chickadee 

 perch in her hair also, and reach down across her 

 cheek for the seed. I have seen one on her finger 

 and one on her hat-rim at the same moment, each 

 taking a seed, for she held two in her lips. If there 

 is only one seed, however, the well-bred little fel- 

 lows never fight for it, at least not in our dooryard, 

 where they are sure of plenty more. They are not 

 nearly so ready to take seeds from my lips, but once 

 or twice they have done so. Usually, however, they 

 draw back when they get close; and it is a pretty 

 sight to see them put on the brakes with their wings 

 while their bright eyes still look hungrily at the 

 food. 



The chickadees not only take food from our hands, 

 however, but they will even come into the house to 

 get it. I was inclined not to believe this at first, 

 but Katie convinced me by bidding me sit quietly 

 in the corner of the kitchen while she set out her 

 dinner close to the door. Then she left the door 

 open, put some seeds beside her plate, and laid a 

 little trail of them conspicuously on the white cloth 

 out to the end of the table. She herself began to 

 eat, paying no attention to the birds. Suddenly 

 there was a whir of wings, a bird entered, snatched 

 a seed from the table, and flew out. A second bird 1 

 came, a third, and soon the trail was carried off, and 

 Katie was eating her dinner with two chickadees 

 actually standing on the table within six inches of 

 her plate! Once a bird hopped up on the edge of a 

 dish of tomatoes and took a seed out of that. 



