SOME NEIGHBORLY ACROBATS 35 



Bitterly cold and dreary though the day may be, that 

 "little scrap of valor," the chickadee, keeps his spirits 

 high until ours cannot but be cheered by the oft-repeated, 

 clear, tinkling silvery notes that spell his name. Chicka- 

 dee-dee, chicka-dee-dee, he introduces himself. How easy 

 it would be for every one to know the birds if all would 

 but sing out their names as clearly as the chickadee and 

 towhee do. 



No bird, except the wren, is more cheerful than the 

 chickadee, and his cheerfulness, fortunately, is contagious. 

 None wiU respond more promptly to your whistle in imi- 

 tation of his three very high, clear call notes, and come 

 nearer and nearer to make quite sure you are only a harm- 

 less mimic. He is very inquisitive. Although not a bird 

 may be in sight when you first whistle his call, nine chances 

 out of ten there will be a faint echo from some far-distant 

 throat before very long; and by repeating the notes at 

 short intervals you will have, probably, not one but several 

 echoes from as many different chickadees whose curiosity 

 to see you soon gets the better of their appetites and brings 

 them flying, by easy stages, to the tree above your head. 

 Where there is one chickadee there are apt to be more in 

 the neighborhood; for these sociable, active, cheerful little 

 black-capped fellows in gray Kke to hunt for their living 

 in loose-scattered flocks throughout the fall and winter. 

 Their family parties alone are always large. They are 

 wonderfully tame; except the chipping sparrow, perhaps 

 the tamest birds that we have. Patient people, who know 

 how to whistle up these friendly sprites, can sometimes 

 draw them close enough to touch, and an elect few, who 

 have the special gift of winning a wild bird's confidence, 

 can induce the chickadee to alight upon their hands. 



