CHICKADEE 



553 



holes in trees or posts and 

 in bird houses. Its food 

 consists from about 70 to 

 90 per cent of insects, 

 largely grasshoppers, 

 beetles, spiders, and cater- 

 pillars. 



Chickadee. This is a 

 small bird, about five and 

 a quarter inches long. It 

 is often an all-year-round 

 resident. The crown of 

 the head and throat are 

 black, the cheeks white, 

 the back gray, and the 

 abdomen usually a dirty 

 white. Its food is about 

 70 per cent insect and 30 



Brownell 

 A bluebird and her young. 



per cent seeds in the summer. In the winter it devours large 

 quantities of eggs laid by insect pests. One bird was found to 

 have eaten more than 430 eggs of the plant louse in a single day. 

 Professor Sanderson of Cornell University has estimated that they 



Chickadee serving lunch. 



L. W. Brownell 



