thers or hair, and weave warm carpets and curtains to make cosy their
little homes.

The Chickadees are very active, lively little things. They are always in
motion; now hopping along in search of food, sending forth the peculiar
cry that gives them their name, and then alighting on the tree limbs and
moving from one tree to another "traversing," as Wilson, a great
authority on birds, says, "the woods in regular procession from tree to
tree, and in this manner traveling several miles a day." They are very
strong for their size, and will hang below a limb supported by their
claws, with their head downwards, which we should think would make them
dizzy, but it does not seem to.

These little roamers of our roads and woods are so genial, companionable
and social, that not only do _we_ enjoy their society, but other birds
are enchanted with them and seek their company. The Chickadees do not
object. And so Brown Creepers, Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, and other
birds, often join them in their merry rambles and scrambles. They feed
mostly on very small insects and eggs, such as infest the bark of trees,
but will eat almost anything offered them; even meat they will peck from
a bone.

Pleasant, indeed, in the midst of winter is this little bird's cry:

"_Chick-a-dee-dee-dee! Chick-a-dee-dee-dee!_"

Pleasant his sharp whistle:

"_Pe-wee! Pe-wee! Pe-wee!_"

How much we should miss these amiable favorites should they ever take a
notion to desert us! They stay with us throughout the year, but in summer
they are shyer than in winter for they rear their young then. It is not
until their family cares are over in the autumn, that they gather in
small flocks and resume their merry life and social ways.

[Illustration: THE BLACK SNOW-BIRD.]

Another very interesting and neighborly winter bird is our familiar
Snow-bird, often called the "Black Snow-bird" to distinguish it from the
Snow Bunting or "White Snow-bird."

These tiny birds visit us from the north. Their journeys extend over the
whole breadth of the United States. They appear here in the latter part
of October, and are first seen among the decaying leaves near the borders
of the woods, in flocks of about thirty. If molested, they at once fly to
the trees. As the weather becomes colder they approach nearer the
farm-houses and towns.

They are real weather prophets. When a storm is near at hand they gather
together in large flocks, and work very, very diligently in se