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Chickadee
Adult--Upper part of head and nape black; back gray; under parts, throat black, breast white, shading into grayish or buff on the sides and belly. Length--5.27.
Breeding Range--"From southern Illinois and Pennsylvania northward to Labrador, and southward along the Alleghanies to North Carolina" (Chapman).
The nest is made of moss, feathers, wool, plant fibre, fur, and sometimes entirely of short hairs. It is placed in a hole which may be either a natural cavity, a deserted woodpecker's nest, or made by themselves; in the latter event they choose a decayed three, by preference the white birch. The hole is seldom more than seventeen feet from the ground. The eggs number from 5 to 8; they are white, sparsely marked with light brown, purplish, and lilac spots and specks, chiefly at the larger end. Size--.57 x .47. See Fig. 19, Plate C.
These little acrobats of the forest, with their cheerful notes and confidential manners, are among the most delightful of our bird friends; they have but little fear of man, and their restless hopping from bough to bough, standing one moment on the twig and the next moment turning over and hanging beneath it, ever searching for food, and uttering at intervals that note so peculiar to themselves, is a constant source of interest and amusement to the onlooker. The eggs may be found from about the middle of May, near New York. Damp woods and woodland swamps or ponds are the localities to which they retire during the nesting season. The young resemble the adult birds.