Chickadee

CHICKADEE. " Off again, on again, gone again!" That's the nimble chickadee, who picks his lunch from the bark of your dooryard tree or accepts the bounty from your window sill, stopping now and then for a few acrobatic stunts or to call on bird neigh bors to share his good cheer. Winter or sum mer, it's all the same to this hardy little bird. He stays with us the year 'round.

Mr. and Mrs. Chicka dee make the most of their 5% inches of length.

Their gray coat and white vest are set off by a black cap and cravat; the sharp little bill and bright eyes give them just the pert expression that suits their blithe manner and the shiny black of their slender legs and feet is the finishing touch to their smart costume (for illustration in colors see article on Birds). The call, chick-a-dee dee-dee, is given in just the high clear tone one would expect from such cheerful fellows, and their tender mating call is as sweet as any love song in birdland.

Like other members of the Titmouse family (see Titmouse), chickadees are of great service to the farmer, for they eat insects, from tiny plant-lice to larvae so large that the tiny birds can master them only by hanging the caterpillars across a twig, seizing an end in each claw and swinging under neath, back downward, until the weight breaks the tough skin of their prey. Scientific name of common chickadee, Pen thestes atricapillus.