The Oregon Chickadee 
prehension, and you know that the game is up,—up for all but the 
Chickadee. He will stay and talk with you as long as you may endure to 
pucker your lips to his fairy lispings. 
It is no exaggeration to say that the “ Swee-tee ” note of the Chickadee, 
passably imitated, is the quickest summons in the bird-world. It is the 
open sesame to all woodland secrets. One drawback, however, attends 
its use: you cannot compass it when the air is chilly and the lips thick. 
Now the eastern bird (P. atricapillus) has a clear, high-pitched call-note, 
which must be taken 
genus and the calls 
best understood by 
Swee-tee, or Swee-tee tee 
as the type of this 
of the western bird are 
reference to this norm. 
' or 
Taken in Oregon 
In the song of occidentalis the first note of the 
type, “high C,” is often- 
est repeated three or four 
times, and has a double 
character impossible to 
represent on paper; while 
the whole ends, or not, 
with the lower note of 
atricapillus. These notes 
may be called the deo deo 
deo day series. In rare 
instances they become a 
ravishing trill on high 
C, beyond imitation or 
analysis. For the rest, 
Chickadee’s notes divide 
themselves into squeaks, 
vocal notes, and whistles 
of such a variety that 
Chickadee’s friends have 
always a sufficient ex¬ 
cuse to stop midway of 
prosy labors and listen 
to the latest news from 
fairyland. 
LADEN WITH DAINTIES 
Photo by W. L. Finley 
6/o 
