60 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
for themselves, in a post or a tree. They rarely select a sound 
tree, but much prefer a decayed one, particularly a white birch, 
in which from one to thirty feet above the ground, on the side 
(or often on the top of a trunk, if a broken one), they make an 
excavation, from three inches to a foot 
deep, with a narrow entrance, if possi- 
ble. At the bottom they place warm 
and soft materials, such as hairs, moss, 
feathers, and wool; and the female, 
usually in the last week of May (near 
Boston), lays six or sometimes more 
egos —often again laying, later in the 
season. The eggs average ‘63 X *50 of 
an inch; and are white, either spotted 
with reddish-brown, or finely freckled 
with a rather paler shade, which ap- 
proaches flesh-color. 
(c). ‘The Chickadees are so abun- 
dantly distributed, or well represented 
Fig.2. Chickadee (3). by closely allied species, throughout the 
greater part of North America, that 
probably to a majority of its inhabitants they are, on the 
whole, more familiar than any other birds. They are common 
residents in all the New England States, but in many parts of 
Massachusetts are much less common in summer than in 
winter, when many have come from the North. At the be- 
ginning of every new year, they may be found in abun- 
dance in the neighborhood of Boston, more often in small 
flocks than otherwise. One may then watch them closely, 
for they are not shy, as they move about among the higher 
branches, and the lower branches, or even on the ground, 
where they peck at fallen cones, or at such refuse as can afford 
them any nourishment. When on the trees, their motions are 
characterized by constant energy; and the better to obtain 
their minute prey (small insects and eggs, such as infest bark) 
they assume many peculiar attitudes, to maintain which great 
(comparative) muscular strength is required—such attitudes 
