The Oregon Chickadee 
special guy-ropes and stays, else they would have been spilled long ago, 
the way their owners frisk about. Blindman’s buff, hide-and-seek, and 
tag are merry games enough when played out on one plane, but when 
staged in three dimensions, with a labyrinth of interlacing branches for 
hazard, only the blithe bird whose praises we sing could possibly master 
their intricacies. 
But Chickadee is as confiding and as confidence-inviting as he is 
capable. It is precisely because you babble all your secrets to him at the 
first breath that the 
whole wood-side comes 
to him for news. With 
the fatuity of utter trust 
he will interrogate the 
fiercest looking stranger; 
and the sound of the 
“sweetee” call is the sig¬ 
nal for all birds to be 
alert. At the repetition 
of it the leaves begin to 
rustle, the moss to sigh, 
and the log-heaps to give 
up their hidden store of 
sleepy Wrens, bashful 
Sparrows, and frowning 
Towhees. Juncoes sim¬ 
per and Kinglets squeak 
over the strange dis¬ 
covery; the Steller Jay 
takes notice and sidles 
over to spy upon the 
performance; while the 
distant-faring Crow 
swerves from his course 
and bends an inquiring 
eye toward the mystery. 
Dee-dee-dee says the 
Black-cap. A hundred 
beady eyes are bent 
upon you, trying to re¬ 
solve your domino of 
corduroy or khaki. Caw 
says the Crow in com- 
NEST AND EGGS OF OREGON CHICKADEE 
THE FRONT WALL OF THE CONTAINING STUMP HAS BEEN REMOVED 
6 oq 
