Birds of Dead Biver E,egion,Me. F. H. C. 



10. Parua hudsonicm, (Hudsonian Chickadee). 

 A small Hock seen in Janviary, 1884, from which 

 I secured three. They came about the lumber 

 camps, to the shelter of the hay shed, during a 

 snow storm. 



O.&O. XI. Aug-. 1886, p. 115 



86 General Notes. fAuk 



Ljan. 



This bog is of the character of many others scattered throughout 

 northern and central Maine, lying in a valley surrounded by hills of mod- 

 erate height, the slopes of which are well wooded, principally with beech 

 birch and poplar. The swampy margin of the bog produces a belt of fir 

 and cedar with a fair percentage of yellow birch and swamp maple, while 

 the center of the bog consists of open areas interspersed with clumps of 

 the hackmatack, locally known as juniper. 



The nest was located in the coniferous belt at the extreme edge of the 

 swamp, about six rods from an opening where the growth had been cut 

 away and is now occupied as pasture. A portion of a dead cedar, nine 

 inches in diameter and about ten feet in length, had fallen and stood 

 leaning with a gentle incline against a birch, and in this stub about four 

 feet from the ground the nest was located. The birds had done appar- 

 ently but little excavating in solid wood ; taking advantage of a decayed 

 place in the side of the stub, had there begun their building operations. 

 The opening at the entrance was irregular in shape, measuring about two 

 by three inches, the cavity expanding with the descent until a depth of 

 SIX inches was reached where the inside diameter was about four inches 

 and there the nest was placed. It contained six young birds, well covered 

 with dark feathers, which were probably about a week out of the shell, 

 and they tilled the nest so completely it was a question how they would 

 all be able to exist and reach maturity in these narrow quarters. 



The old birds were engaged in feeding the young, and the fact of one 

 having a woodland moth - species unknown - in its bill first led me to 

 suspect a brood of nestlings might be near. Both birds were seen and 

 positively identified through my glass at a distance of about 30 feet 

 before the nest was discovered. While I was examining the nest the 

 bird with the moth in its bill, presumably the female, as she was the most 

 fearless of the pair, flew to within seven or eight feet of my head and 

 nearly on a level with it, showing the greatest anxiety and uttering pite- 

 ous cries. Her call notes before I approached the nest were similar to 

 the following syllables, tswee-chee ya-a-a-ck (emphasis on last syllable 

 and with rising inflection) and were uttered at intervals of five or six sec- 

 onds quite constantly. The male was not apparently as anxious as his 

 mate, nor did I hear any note from him during my stay in the vicinity of 

 near a half hour. 



I could not remain longer to study this interesting family, and after 

 carefully marking the spot, returned home intending to return and secure 

 material proof of the bird's identity, but business detained me and I was 

 not able to again visit the place until July i, an absence of ten days 

 when I found the nest empty. From its appearance I had no doubt that 

 the young brood had occupied it until within a day or so, and expected to 

 find them near, but a search of the surrounding territory failed to dis- 

 cover any trace of them. 



The stub containing the nest was secured and the nest-lining examined 

 which proved to consist mainly of vegetable down from ferns and what 



