BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE. 147 



Marsh Titmouse of Europe, P. palustris, it differs from that species not 

 only in colour, but more especially in its habits and notes. 



Hardy, smart, restless, industrious, and frugal, the Black-cap Titmouse 

 ranges through the forest during the summer, and retiring to its more 

 secluded parts, as if to ensure a greater degree of quiet, it usually breeds 

 there. Numerous eggs produce a numerous progeny, and as soon as the first 

 brood has been reared, the young range hither and thither in a body, search- 

 ing for food, while their parents, intent on forming another family, remain 

 concealed and almost silent, laying their eggs in the hole deserted by some 

 small Woodpecker, or forming one for themselves. As it has been my 

 fortune to witness a pair at this work, I will here state what occurred, not- 

 withstanding the opinion of those who inform us that the bill of a Titmouse 

 is "not shaped for digging." While seated one morning under a crab-apple 

 tree (very hard wood, reader), I saw two Black-cap Titmice fluttering about 

 in great concern, as if anxious to see me depart. By their manners indeed 

 I was induced to believe that their nest was near, and, anxious to observe 

 their proceedings, I removed to the distance of about twenty paces. The 

 birds now became silent, alighted on the apple-tree, gradually moved 

 towards the base of one of its large branches, and one of them disappeared 

 in what I then supposed to be the hole of some small Woodpecker; but I 

 saw it presently on the edge, with a small chip in its bill, and again 

 cautiously approached the tree. When three or four yards off I distinctly 

 heard the peckings or taps of the industrious worker within, and saw it 

 come to the mouth of the hole and return many times in succession in the 

 course of half an hour, after which I got up and examined the mansion. 

 The hole was about three inches deep, and dug obliquely downward from 

 the aperture, which was just large enough to admit the bird. I had observed 

 both sexes at this labour, and left the spot perfectly satisfied as to their 

 power of boring a nest for themselves. 



The Black-cap Titmouse, or Chickadee, as it is generally named in our 

 Eastern States, though exceedingly shy in summer or during the breeding 

 season, becomes quite familiar in winter, although it never ventures to enter 

 the habitations of man; but in the most boisterous weather, requiring 

 neither food nor shelter there, it may be seen amidst the snow in the rugged 

 paths of the cheerless woods, where it welcomes the traveller or the wood- 

 cutter with a confidence and cheerfulness far surpassing the well-known 

 familiarity of the Robin Redbreast of Europe. Often, on such occasions, 

 should you offer it, no matter how small a portion of your fare, it alights 

 without hesitation, and devours it without manifesting any apprehension. 

 The sound of an axe in the woods is sufficient to bring forth several of these 

 busy creatures, and having discovered the woodman, they seem to find 



