THE TITMOUSE. Ill 



with which we arc familiar; the Black-capped Tit 

 mouse, or Chick-a-de-de, and the Crested Titmouse. 

 They are both constant residents in the Middle States, 

 Summer and Winter; but it is during the severity of 

 Winter that we are most accustomed to their appear- 

 ance. They then assemble in small troops with the 

 Snow Birds and the little Spotted Woodpecker, and 

 entering the orchard, or the trees around the house, 

 they soon make themselves known by their incessant 

 chatter, and great activity in chasing each other from 

 tree to tree. The notes of the former, when thus 

 engaged, are very rapid, and uttered with considera- 

 ble energy, bearing some resemblance to the words 

 •' See, see, sweet, sevait, chick, chick-a-de-de." The 

 latter has, in addition to his lively twitter, a loud 

 whistle, which may be heard for hours together, re- 

 peated at intervals as though calling a dog. These 

 little birds are apt to build their nests in the de- 

 serted hole of a Woodpecker; but frequently, when 

 none such are to be found, they will work with great 

 perseverance until they have made one for them- 

 selves, even picking their way into the trunk or 

 branches of some of our hardest wooded trees. As- 

 sociated with them may often be seen the Brown 

 Creeper, a plain, modest, unassuming little fellow, 

 whose utmost ambition seems to be to fill its stomach 

 with the dainty little morsels which it picks out from 

 the crevices and holes in the trees with its long sharp 

 bill 



