THE CHICKADEE 57 
yet arrived, nor would she have shed all these feath- 
ers at the same moment. |There could therefore be 
only one interpretation of ‘their presence. Some foe 
—probably a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk, since 
the predaceous mammals for the most part hunt at 
night, when the Chickadee would be snugly sleep- 
ing in her nest—had made a dash and grasped her 
by the tail, which she had sacrificed in escaping. A 
moment later the theory was supported by the ap- 
pearance of a subdued-looking Chickadee, sans tail, 
and I congratulated her on her fortunate exchange 
of life for a member which of late had not been very 
decorative, and of which, in any event, Nature would 
have soon deprived her. 
The young proved to be nearly ready to fly, and, 
carefully removing the front of their log cabin, a 
sight was disclosed such as mortal probably never 
beheld before and Chickadee but rarely. 
Six black-and-white heads were raised and six 
yellow-lined mouths opened in expressive appeal for 
food. But this was not all; there was another layer 
of Chickadees below—how many it was impossible 
to say without disentangling a wad of birds so com- 
pact that the outlines of no one bird could be dis- 
tinguished. A piazza, as it were, was built at the 
Chickadees’ threshold in the shape of a perch of 
proper size, and beneath, as a life net, was spread a 
piece of mosquito bar. Then I proceeded to indi- 
vidualize the ball of feathers; one, two, three, to 
seven were counted without undue surprise, but 
when an eighth and ninth were added, I marveled 
at the energy which had supplied so many mouths 
with food, and at the same time wondered how many 
