242 
The Chickadee 
Digging a 
Nest-hole 
widely over the northern hemisphere, and highly serviceable to civilized 
mankind. Our Black-capped Chickadee may be found at some, if not 
all, seasons of the year in eastern Canada and the northeastern United 
States, where it is the prevailing woodland bird, particularly in winter. 
A hole in a decayed birch-stump, two or three feet from the ground, a 
knot-hole in an old apple-tree, in a fence-post, or in an elm, forty or fifty 
feet from the ground, the deserted home of some woodpecker, or a 
nesting-box, may be selected by the Chickadee for its 
home. Commonly it digs out a nest-hole in the decay- 
ing stump of a birch or pine. It is unable to penetrate 
sound wood, for I have seen it try to enlarge a small hole in a white-pine 
nesting-box, but fail to start a chip. Often the Chickadee gains an 
entrance through the hard outer coating of a post or stump into the 
decaying interior by choosing, as a vantage-point, a hole made by some 
woodpecker in search of a grub. The Chickadee works industriously to 
deepen and enlarge this cavity, sometimes making a hole nine or more 
inches deep ; and the little bird is wise enough to carry the tell-tale chips 
away and scatter them far and wide^ — something the woodpeckers are 
less careful to do. Sometimes the hole is excavated in the broken top of 
a leaning stump or tree, and once I found one in the top of an erect white- 
pine stump with no shelter from the storm. 
The nest is placed at the bottom of the hole, and is made of such warm 
materials as cottony vegetable fibers, hairs, wool, mosses, feathers, and 
insects’ cocoons. Every furry denizen of the woods, and some domestic 
animals, may sometimes contribute hair or fur to the Chickadee’s nest. 
One nest was made entirely of cotton that had been placed in a nesting- 
box for the use of the birds. 
The eggs vary somewhat in color, but are commonly white, spotted 
with reddish brown or finely marked with a paler 
Eggs and shade. Both birds take turns in sitting, and the eggs 
hatch in about eleven days, the last one laid requiring 
somietimes twelve or thirteen days. The young leave the nest in about 
two weeks from the date of hatching. Sometimes two broods are reared 
in a season. 
Chickadee is a very attentive little husband, often visits his mate 
while she is sitting on her eggs, and, besides relieving her of a part of 
this labor, frequently feeds her on the nest. 
The Chickadee has named himself, and repeats his name often, with 
several additional dee-dees or chee-dees. Toward spring, he sometimes 
attempts to “pour out his soul in song,” but a few jingling notes represent 
his finest efforts. The long, pensive, musical pJioehe, which he utters 
most often at that season, given with the first note accented and the last 
falling, is regarded by many writers as his song, but it is uttered by 
both sexes. The young in the nest give a faint and wheezing imitation 
of the chieadee, and, when they cry all together, their combined voices 
suggest the hissing of some huge snake. 
