S’/xT/o-u 
and the other about the same number, as nearly as we could 
ascertain by looking into the holes which entered almost 
directly downward from the tops of the stubs. Both birds 
were sitting to-day at about noon. We could see their tails 
pressed against the sides of the stubs, pointing straight 
upward.^As I was peeping into the first hole with my eye 
almost touching its edges, Seton tapped the stub with his 
knuckles. The result surprised, not to say startled us both 
for the light blow was immediately followed by an explosive 
poof ending in a prolonged hiss, the whole closely resembling 
the sudden escape of a powerful jet of steam. My lirst 
idea was that there was a Snake in the hole and I jumped 
back instinctively and precipitately. Possibly the sound is 
really intended to simulate that of a Snake's hiss. inis 
bird repeated it only two or three times when we continued 
to rap or scratch on the outside of the stub but the bird in 
the other nest emitted it in perfect volleys, pool ing six or 
eight times in rapid succession whenever we provoked her 
to do so. It must be a regular habit of sitting Chickadees 
to thus threaten those who disturb their nests but possibly 
they indulge in it only after their young are hatched for I 
cannot remember ever having had an experience similar to 
this before. 
There were fourteen Bats in the loft over the shed 
at the Farm to-day, all in one cluster clinging to the rough 
surface of the boards directly under the peak of the roof. 
Seton seemed to be more interested in them than in anything 
