^4 
FOREST. AND STREAM, 
misfortime has brought the man and squirrel a little 
nearer together. 
Chickadees that can Count Four* 
The chickadee is my favorite bird. At the present 
time the flock of chikadees that come to my cabin for 
food will number not far from fttrty individuals. Many 
of this number are old friends that have become tame 
enough to eat from my hand. When the cabin door 
is open they fly in and out perfectly fearless. 
Several years ago the late Frank Balls, in one of 
his visits to my cabin, was told by me that the chicka- 
dees could count four. Mr. Balls replied: "I confess 
to being quite a crank on birds, but I can hardly grant 
my pets a knowledge of matliematics; where do you 
get your proof?" 
I threw some hemn seed into the door yard and 
called the chickadees down. While the chickadee is 
fond of hemp seed, it is a fact that he cannot crack the 
seed in his bill. He has not the cone bill of the finch 
family, so must take a seed to a small twig, hold it 
between his toes and beat off the hull. Young chicka- 
dees take one seed from the door yard, but the old 
ones take as many as four. These old birds are in- 
telligent enough to save their wings by crowding four 
trips into one. One old bird picked up four seeds and 
flew to a pine limb directly over Mr. Balls' head. It 
placed three seeds in the rough bark of the limb and 
hopped to a small twig and proceeded to pound the 
hull off the fourth seed. I quietly pushed one of the 
three seeds off the limb. When the bird had disposed 
of the two seeds in sight it searched for the missing 
seed. Not finding it in the bark, the bird dropped to 
the ground and soon recovered it. 
After witnessing this performance several times, Mr. 
Balls admitted that the chickadee knows some mathe- 
matics .and can count four any way. 
I have observed this thing for eighteen yeai-s,_and it 
proves to me that my pets possess intelligence far be- 
yond the knowledge of the general public. 
For several winters one of my chickadees has formed 
the habit of rapping on the window when he wishes 
to come into the cabin for food. After rapping he 
will fly to the door, for he knows that I will let him in. 
Other chickadees imitate this one, so far as perching 
on the window sill, and bobbing their heads, but they 
do not tap on the glass, so I do not let them in when 
they fly to the door. 
In many ways the chickadee has changed his mode 
of life during the eighteen years that he has inhabited 
my door-yard. This is especially evident in the de- 
paVture in nest building. Some of the birds make a 
nest wholly of cotton batting, which I supply. The 
fact is, these birds are partly domesticated, and let me 
say this: I could remove a number of them to Boston 
Common, feed them for awhile, and they would remain 
to become permanent residents. They breed rapidly, 
and other parks could be stocked from this colony. 
But the English sparrow stands in the way. 
It is a burning shame that we should have imported 
this quarrelsome nuisance when we possessed a native 
bird in every way fitted for park life. 
The chickadee nests in dead trees, woodpecker fash- 
ion. Ninety per cent, of the nests are in small paper 
birch trees. The birds take turns in doing the work. 
A neat round hole is pecked through the tough bark, 
then the rotten wood is removed to a depth of about 
ten inches. Moss is placed in the bottom and on this 
squirrel's or rabbit's fur. The eggs are white, with 
numerous specks, and number from five to nine. They 
look so pretty and cosey nestled in soft fur set off by 
bright green moss that one is reminded of jewels in a 
case. 
If these birds are ever introduced mto parks, the 
nests could be cheap affairs. A tube about one foot 
in length would answer. 
The New York Zoological Society* 
The report of the executive committee of the New 
York Zoological Society is too long to publish in full, 
but some of the more important events of the year 1902, 
vvhich has shown the most satisfactory progress since the 
Society's establishment, should be mentioned. 
The transfer to the Society of the New York Aquarium 
is an event of great municipal importance and a gratifying 
evidence of the confidence felt in the Society by the city 
authorities. As noted in Forest akd Stream, the transfer 
took place last October, and the Society has been fortunate 
enough to secure Mr. Chas. H. Townsend as director of 
the Aquarium. The city provides a maintenance fund of 
not less than $45,000, and the Society has chosen an ad- 
visory committee to act with the director. 
The enormous attendance at the Aquarium, averaging 
about 5,000 visitors daily during the year, makes the 
proper conduct of this institution a matter of the greatest 
importance, both from a popular and a scientific point 
of view. , , , , 
The completion of the lion house has been already 
alluded to, and the antelope house will probably be fin- 
ished during the spring of 1903. Even before it is stocked 
with antelope, this house can be used, for the Society is 
already very short of room for its tropical animals. 
Plans have been completed for a bird house, and bids 
are being advertised for. This will be located on the 
northwest corner of Baird Court, and will afford cage 
room for a great number of specimens. It will be pro- 
vided with several flying cages, both within and without. 
The growth of the Society's collections has been so 
rapid that the maintenance fund provided by the city has 
hitherto usually fallen short. It is hoped that future 
provision may be on a more liberal scale, in order that 
the Society, which already bears the expense of providing 
collections and housing them, should not also be forced 
to pay considerable annual sums for their main- 
tenance. , , , , 
The franchises of the park produced last year about 
$7,000, the proceeds of which are devoted to the increase 
of' the collections. Yet with each new building the cost 
of increasing the collections becomes greater, and the 
Society must look to its general fund to meet this added 
cost. This fund depends on the annual subscriptions of 
new members, and strong efforts should be made to in- 
crease this membership, which now is only a little over 
1,200. It ought to be three times as great. 
As usual, the gifts to the Society have been very gener- 
ous. A member presented a magnificent antique Italian 
fountain, which is now being erected, and a great number 
of rare and expensive mammals has been given by other 
members. 
Allusion is made to the useful work done by the Society 
in representing to Congress, to the authorities of New- 
foundland and to the Canadian Minister of the Interior, 
the importance of taking steps to preserve certain species 
of animals that arc threatened with extinction. Through 
the efforts of Hon. Jno. F. Lacey, assisted by Dr. C. Hart 
Merriam, a game law was provided for Alaska which 
seems to h.ave been working well. Wise action to protect 
the caribou has been taken by the Newfoundland authori- 
ties, while the Minister of the Interior in Canada has set 
on foot measures for the protection of the wood buffalo 
and the musk ox. 
As a whole, the report of the executive committee 
shows verj' gratifying and good work done by the .Society 
during the year. This work is purely a labor of love, and 
it is earnestly hoped that the public may show their ap- 
preciation of this effort by lending their support to the 
gentlemen who are so efficiently carrying out the wise 
plans of the Society. A larger membership is greatly 
needed, and those who are interested in the subject should 
apply to Madison Grant, secretary, 11 Wall street, New 
York, for blanks for application to the Societ}^ 
Our Wood Inhabiters in Winter. 
To THOSE who love ,to be among our woods, who de- 
light in penetrating the dim, mysterious vistas which 
stretch awaj' among the grand old forest trees, the 
charms which meet him on every side in the balmy 
days of summer, are innumerable and of the most 
varied character. 
The songs of many birds, the fragrant aroma from 
the incense-breathing foliage, the bright and fragrant 
flowers which dwell only in those secluded retreat.s, 
the many-colored butterflies which fly across his path; 
all these are enjoyable in a high degree; they are some- 
thing which to the lover of nature surpass all other 
sources of pleasure. 
But though they. are in those halcyon days so thor- 
oughly enjoj^able, they do not entirely eclipse the de- 
liglits which a visit to those scenes in winter affords. 
It is true that most of the sounds of nature are 
hushed in a great degree, but there are almost num- 
berless phenomena to engross the attention and to af- 
ford recreation and study to those Avho delight in wit- 
nessing the wonderful happenings around him. 
A ramble in the woods in winter brings with it a 
peculiar degree of enthusiasm that is not found at any 
other season. Our blood courses rapidly through our 
veins as we drink deep draughts of the glorious air, 
and as we crunch through the crusted snow our respi- 
ration is full, our eyes brighten and we feel as if we want 
to sing and even shout. The oxygen of the winter 
woods is working all these wonders. It is exhilarating, 
almost intoxicating. 
As we pass through the old fields and pasture and 
the outlying thickets, and enter the forest growth, the 
first greeting we receive is from two or three bristling 
little birds, the chickadees or blackcap titmice which, 
climbing about among the small branches and twigs 
of the trees, hover about us with an air of half inquiry 
and half sociability that they voice in their peculiar 
tinkling notes, "Chick-a-dee-dee," which are charac- 
teristic of the species. 
These hardy little feathered mites remain with us in 
the Middle and New England States throughout the 
year, being migratory in but a very small degree. While 
this species is properly a wood bird, it often visits the 
orchards and farm gardens, and so sociable is its 
nature it is frequently seen among the ivy and other 
vines which climb about the porches of the farm- 
houses, busily engaged in its search for the larvse and 
eggs of insects upon which it chiefly subsists. It also 
hunts among the gray, lichen-clad shingles of the 
house itself for the torpid insects and their larvae, and 
the spiders which hibernate among the weather-beaten 
boards; and in such places the hardy little bird finds 
sometimes an abundance of food that one would hardly 
imagine could be there. 
Sociability is not the only good trait in this charm- 
ing little bird's character, for it is gifted with a sym- 
pathetic nature that is rarely excelled by any of the 
other birds. 
Often have I in my forest rambles imitated the cry 
of a bird in distress for the purpose of ascertaining 
what species were within hearing distance from me; 
this cry, if it can be called such, is made by loudly 
kissing the back of the hand, the sound produced be- 
ing exactly like the crj' of a young bird or some small 
matured species in fright or pain. 
Although there may, perhaps, be no birds visible be- 
fore the cry is sounded, as soon as it breaks the still- 
ness of the forest, birds fiy out from hidden places in 
astonishing numbers and variety, the thrushes, vireos, 
Maryland yellowthroat and other species of sylvians 
gather around the intruder scolding vehemently 
at my presence and at the pain I am apparently 
giving some feathered victim, and among these 
the chickadee is, if within hearing distance, the 
first to fly to the rescue and the mo.st solicitous of all 
concerning the pain and peril in which one of its mates, 
perchance, is placed. I have carried on this deception 
to such a length that some of the more belligerent 
species have actually attacked me, flying at my face 
and evidently determined to punish me for molesting 
one of their neighbors. 
The chickadees hovered aromid me sometimes so 
closely that I could almost touch them, and their every 
tone and movement expressed the keenest anxiety and 
solicitude. And this sympathetic feeling, as shown by 
the chickadees, is not confined to the nesting or breed- 
ing season, but is manifested at all periods of the 
year, as I have repeatedly proved. 
On one occasion, as I was enjoying a winter ramble 
ill the woods, I sat down in a sheltered, sunny spot for 
a^ short rest and smoke, and as I was preparing my 
pipe, I absent-mindedly whistled the air of one or two 
songs, and finally took up the melody of "Stride la 
Vampa" in "II Travatore." It is not exactly in a 
minor key, but as I whistled it 1 remember that it 
sounded very plaintive. I had whistled but a few 
measures when T heard the notes of a pair of chicka- 
dees in the thicket near by, and the birds quickly drew 
near me, chattering and uttering a peculiar note of 
commiseration that was unmistakable. I continued 
the whistling in a lower tone and drifted into a melody 
that was in a distinctly minor -key, when the birds be- 
came more and more anxious, and one drew nearer 
and at length alighted on the toe of my boot, and 
looking up into my face, said as plainly as bird could 
speak it and full of .sympathy, "What is the matter, 
yon poor thing? Are you in pain? I wish I could 
help 3'ou." For a few minutes I kept the birds almost 
in a delirium of anxiety, and then ceasing to whistle and 
making a quick movement of my feet, I startled them, 
and they soon flew away. 
The blackcap titmouse, subsisting as it does on a 
variety of food, is rarely put on "short commons," 
while it chiefly depends on the eggs, larvse and imagos 
of various" insects ; it often visits the farm-yard and 
claims a share of the food that is thrown to the poultry. 
Gentry says that if the woodhouse door is carelessly 
left open the chickadee will gratify its curiosity by 
entering, and, if anything edible is 10 be found, it is 
not too bashful to appropriate it, "even the bacon 
strip which is used to grease the saw and which is a 
noticeable feature in every woodhouse, disappears be- 
fore its keen appetite." 
I have often been visited by these sociable little 
birds when tenting on a salmon stream, and they lost 
no time in gleaning among the fish bones and other 
debris from the table that was strewn upon the ground. 
The chickadee is the impersonation of restlessiies.s ; 
it is ever on the move, and as has been truly said, it 
combines in a remarkable manner "the twofold char- 
acter of an expert creeper and skillful flycatcher mov- 
ing circuitously up the trunk and along the horizontal 
branches freely suspending itself in an inverted manner 
by the aid of its claws with the nimbleness and grace- 
fulness of the brown creeper." It moves from one 
tree to another quickly in foraging and generally trav- 
els in pairs, male and female. If the birds become 
separated, the male utters its anxious call notes, which 
quickly bring his mate to his side. 
Another of the common wood inhabiters met with 
in the winter is the red squirrel or chickaree. This 
little animal has a wide geographical range, being 
common throughout the Middle and Eastern States 
and in the Canadian provinces, wherever the pine and 
spruce occur, and in most of the Western States east 
of the Mississippi River it is also abundant. 
Its natural home is among the evergreens, the cones 
of which, particularly those of the black spruce, form 
its principal article of food. It readily adapts itself 
to other localities, however, and often takes up its resi- 
dence in the neighborhood of the farm, where it makes 
frequent forays to the corn fields and the grain house. 
Unlike most of our other squirrels, the chickaree 
collects an ample supply of food for winter use, con- 
sisting of nuts, corn and other grains if they are to be 
obtained, acorns and seeds, and as it is active through- 
out the entire season, this stock of provender is freely 
drawn upon. 
This food is deposited in hollow trees, under logs 
and rocks, and is occasionally cached in the ground. 
The ever alert boy often finds these hidden hoards of 
nuts, and as a matter of course, has no scruples 
against appropriating them for his own use. 
In winter the peculiar tracks of this little animal are 
seen everj'where in the snow, and they almost invaria- 
blv lead to a hoard of provender or to a pile of spruce 
cones that the squirrel had detached from the tree for 
food. 
The chickaree, while it sometimes seems to tolerate 
the presenece of man in the neighborhood of its re- 
tired home in the forest, as a rule objects very .strenu- 
ously to his coming there. I have often, in one of 
my winter rambles, drawn near one of these little 
animals, and sitting upon a tree stump or boulder, 
Avatched its movements: for a brief time it remained 
quiet, watching me evidently with curiosity and await- 
ing my next move. 
If I remained perfectly quiet the squirrel came out 
openly and scrutinized me* closely, and then doubtless, 
in disapproval of my tout ensemble, it set up the 
vilest tirade of abuse against me that a squirrel could 
ntter: jerking its tail up and down and spasmodically 
moving its body in nervous irritation, every note and 
every motion indicated that it held me in utter con- 
tempt, abhorrence and derision. I doubt if there is 
another animal that can scold as venomously as can 
one of these chickarees ; but all the time it is scold- 
ing it keeps its weather eye open, and is otherwise 
fully on the alert, and if a hand or foot is moved, away 
scampers the squirrel, realizing, perhaps, that it de- 
serves a condign punishment for the abuse it had 
showered upon me. 
In addition to the variety of food that I have named,, 
the red squirrel eats the eggs and young of birds, and 
devours grasshoppers and such other insects as it can 
capture. I have often had specimens in captivity and 
have experimentally thrown to them grasshoppers and 
grubs, and these were quickly eaten. 
On one occasion, as I was quietly following a trout 
brook through a swamp, I heard a fluttering in the 
thicket, a sound as if some kind of struggle was in 
progress, and on investigating the cause of the dis- 
turbance, discovered that a chickaree had a young 
woodcock in its mouth, which it was endeavoring to 
bear away despite the protests, wing blows and other 
demonstrations from the mother bird. 
By good fortune I succeeded in knocking the ma- 
rauder over with a well-aimed stone, and found that 
the chick was dead, and the head was bitten through 
and partly eaten. 
I am aware that in the opinion of some observer? 
this squirrel is not a flesh eater, but I have proved 
the contrary on many occasions. Repeatedly have I 
