588 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
when insects fail, taking kindly to seeds, berries, cone-kernels, 
and crumbs. 
The Chickadee breaks the silence of many winter days with 
his jovial notes, and fairly begs for companionship : 
Chic-chicadeedee ! saucy note 
Out of sound heart and merry throat, 
As if it said, “Good day, good sir! 
Fine afternoon, old passenger! 
Happy to meet you in these places, 
Where January brings few faces.” 
— R. W. Emerson 
THE REV. MR. CHICKADEE, D.D. 
A little clergyman is he, 
With black and white cravat; 
He bears a coveted degree, 
And wears a soft silk hat. 
With happy heart and merry voice, 
He braves the cold and heat; 
And to the loved one of his choice 
He whistles soft and sweet. 
So overflowing is his strain, 
That he could dub “ D.D.” 
Young theologues with meagre brain 
And bump of vanity. 
His sect is congregational, 
The wild woods are his church, 
The wind his “choir invisible,” 
His pulpit is a birch. 
The sermon we should not forget: 
“ Happy and cheerful be, 
Have diligence, be brave, don't fret,” 
Says Chickadee, D.D. 
— Florence A. Van Sant, Jay, Essex county, N. Y., in Bird-Lore 
Family Paridae: Nuthatches and Titmice 
Subfamily Sittinae: Nuthatches 
White-breasted Nuthatch: Sitta carolinensis 
Plate I Fig. 2 
Length: 5.50-6 inches. 
Male and Female: Body flat and compact. Above slate-blue. Top of 
head and nape black. Wings slate, edged with brown. Outer 
tail feathers brownish with white bars. Belly white, rusty to- 
