LITTLE THINGS IN NATURE. 



ARTHUR PHELPS. 



Men write about hunts they have had 

 after moose, and how they nearly got killed 

 while after a bear, and all that sort of thing, 

 which makes good stories for the man who 

 can get to the wild woods and can under- 

 stand what is talked about. The town man 

 reads those stories and is envious of the 

 other man, wishing that he, too, could see 

 and study nature. He can, in his own 

 home. Of course, it will only be the little 

 things in nature, but they are as interest- 

 ing as the big things. The little things 

 easiest to study at this time of the year are 

 the birds. A man can get many hours of 

 recreation and pleasure watching them. 



To hear a bird in winter always makes 

 me want to stop and hunt up the little sing- 

 er. I want to get a closer acquaintance, 

 and it always repays me even when I have 

 to walk through 2 feet of snow. The chick- 

 adees are the most interesting little neigh- 

 bors we have. Of course, they don't exact- 

 ly sing, but their pleasant "stic-a-dee-dee" 

 can be heard in almost any locality, and at 

 almost any time of the day. 



The first one I saw last winter came and 

 feasted off a meaty bone I had nailed up in 

 our back yard. He preferred to pull a piece 

 of meat off the bone and fly with it to an 

 overhanging branch. There he would place 

 one foot on the bone and while balancing 

 himself with the other would pick the meat 

 to pieces. I don't know why he chose this 

 manner of eating. Perhaps it was because 

 he was afraid of the downy woodpecker 

 that had been there before him. The chic- 

 a-dee flew away before I had seen nearly 

 enough of him, and he had given me so 

 much pleasure in watching him that I re- 

 solved to keep my eyes open in the future. 



The next afternoon when I took my walk 

 I was on the lookout, and because I kept 

 my ears open I heard a chickadee call from 

 some trees at the end of a small lane. I 

 crept up to see what was going on. There 

 were 2 birds, one in each tree, and from all 

 appearances they seemed to be carrying on 

 a conversation. They kept calling to one 

 another in turn with variations at the end 

 of the call. When one of them was about 

 to give a call I made a step forward and 

 was seen. Both birds flew at once, seem- 

 ing to see me at the same time. I hadn't 

 learned anything much about them except 

 to take more particular note of their plum- 

 age, but it pleased me to know that I had 

 little winter neighbors so close. I could 



get a new pleasure from my walks, and 

 their only purpose would no longer be for 

 exercise. 



The other day when some odds and ends 

 were thrown out I had a chance to see the 

 chickadee at his best. Among other things 

 thrown out were 2 or 3 small pieces of 

 meat. Almost as soon as they touched the 

 ground a chickadee flew down from some- 

 where and began picking about. He either 

 was not hungry just then and was going 

 to cache his food, or he was not going to 

 let me see him eat it, for he selected the 

 smallest of the pieces of meat and tried to 

 fly away with it. It was too heavy for him, 

 however, and he dropped it. Then he 

 hopped away from it a few inches and 

 cocked his head on one side- and looked at 

 it. He looked so much like a man esti- 

 mating with his eye the weight of anything, 

 that I laughed and frightened him away; 

 but in a few minutes he was back again. 

 After a few more unsuccessful attempts to 

 carry the meat off he evidently decided that 

 the best way was to eat what he could not 

 carry and cache the rest. 



The chickadee has many calls and notes 

 besides the one after which he is named. 

 When running up and down a limb looking 

 for grubs or other food, he gives a peculiar 

 little whistle or series of whistles with a 

 soft undertone. I think this is his most 

 pleasing note, and well worth hearing. I 

 only mention this one note out of perhaps 

 a dozen I have heard him utter. I leave 

 the rest for the man who wants to study 

 the little things to find out for himself. 



The chickadee is not by any means the 

 only outdoor friend we have in the winter. 

 I have chosen him for this sketch simply 

 because I think he is the most interesting 

 of our winter birds. Among some of the 

 other birds one may see and study in the 

 winter are the English sparrow, who is in- 

 teresting, for all that is said against him; 

 the downy woodpecker, and the nuthatches, 

 both white and red breasted. The red 

 breasted is the rarer and smaller of the 2. 

 I watched one yesterday while feeding. He 

 slipped his long, pointed bill under a piece 

 of bark and, running it along underneath 

 for about an inch, gave it a twist and off 

 came the bark, leaving his food exposed. 



Watch the birds, make the acquaintance 

 of each, and you will get more pleasure out 

 of your walks than you ever before thought 

 they possessed. 



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