586 THE CHICKADEE: 
There is usually in the vicinity of the nest a hollow 
tree, or cavity made on purpose for the male to roost in 
during the time of breeding; such retreats are also occu- 
pied by them in severe stormy weather in winter, in 
which they sometimes remain three or four days in suc- 
cession. They make their nests of different materials; 
sometimes it is entirely of cow’s hair, at others entirely 
of wool; usually it is composed of various materials, such 
as those named, together with fine grass, the fine dried 
roots of the willow, etc., and lined with some soft mate- 
rial. Its inside diameter is one and three-fourths inches ; 
its depth one and one-fourth inches. The eggs, which 
are commonly eight in number, measure in length nine- 
sixteenths of an inch, and in breadth eight-sixteenths of 
an inch. They are marked with reddish-brown ‘specks 
over the entire egg, more thickly at the larger end; 
sometimes, however, the spots are thicker on the smaller 
end of some of the eggs of the same brood. They raise 
two broods in a season. The Chickadee, when compelled 
from necessity to take up his abode in a cavity not made 
by himself, selects one with an entrance not much larger 
than his body, so that he is not so-liable to become the 
prey of the Mottled-owl, as are the Golden-winged Wood- 
peckers, and Blue-birds. There are no species of birds 
that suffer so much from the depredations of the owl as 
the Golden-winged Woodpeckers. The deadliest foe to 
the Chickadee is the Great American Shrike, or Butcher- 
bird. Seated upon some prominent object the Shrike 
watches the movement of the little troop as they are 
busily engaged seeking their food in a variety of posi- 
tions, unconscious of the sure death that awaits one of 
_ their number. While listening to the squeaking notes 
~ Ofthe Brown Creeper which usually attends them, or 
