THE CHEERFUL CHICKADEE 



69 



they devour all of them. Personally, from watch- 

 ing their actions on apple-trees, I believe they eat 

 oyster-shell scale. Like almost all birds, of course, 



Perched on the end of a bare twig as in a Japanese print 



they are greedy for suet ; and they are very fond of 

 sunflower and pumpkin seeds. If you will try to 

 break a sunflower seed with your finger-nail, you 

 will realize how strong their little bills are, for they 

 take off the outer shell with a couple of rapid mo- 

 tions as neatly as you please. If you follow one of 

 them down in the winter corn-field where a few ears 



