A PROLIFIC PEACH TREE STUMP.
One day early in the spring, while taking bird notes I discovered a pair of chickadees busily engaged in constructing a home. They had chosen an old peach tree that stood just back of the yard and were rapidly excavating a beautifully rounded circle in the decayed stump.
Perching in the mouth of the cavity the chickadee’s body would almost disappear within and then he would withdraw himself and fly away with a tiny chip of rotten wood in his beak. After the cavity was satisfactorily completed they began lining the interior, which formed the nest proper. These fastidious little feathered architects consider nothing less than soft clean fur suitable material for a bed for their delicate speckled eggs. In this instance rabbit’s fur was used, which was identified by the fringe of loose hair that clung to the entrance, for the hollow was too deep to look down into the nest.
Some time after the discovery of the chickadees’ habitation, when the peaches and plums were in blossom and the air soft and balmy the wrens arrived from their winter home.
These inquisitive little creatures peer out very knowingly from their retreat amidst the verdure, at anyone who comes near, and they win the heart of all by their pert manners and love of human companionship. These modestly attired little warblers are extremely lively and nimbly search among the foliage for food, destroying many harmful insects.
In scanning every possible and impossible place about the premises for a suitable nesting site, one of these dapper little fellows spied the snuggery in the stump which captivated his fancy, and he forthwith proceeded to try to take possession. But such outrageous trespassing was not to be allowed for a moment by the chickadees and whenever the little brown rogue crept up to the entrance to peep in, out would pop the proprietor, in his jaunty black cap, and put him to flight. The intruder would then perch on a branch near by, stretch himself to his full height, with tail erect, as though to appear of as much consequence as possible, and alternately scold and pour forth defiant song at his opponent. This antagonism was kept up for several days, till finally the wrens gave up the contest and began furnishing a neat little bird house in a maple tree close by.
When they had nearly completed their labor the young chickadees left the nest to follow their sprightly parents about the orchard, whereupon the whimsical but industrious wrens immediately abandoned their pretty summer cottage to occupy the now vacant cavity in the stump. These two little birds (chickadee and wren), much alike in some respects, show a very decided difference in the choice of nesting material. The hollow was soon filled to overflowing with sticks, the main substance of every wren’s nest.
In due season a brood issued forth, followed by another later, to swell the young bird population, then at its height. Only think of the amount of extravagant activity and drollery that was reared in that cavity nursery!
As the Creator did not implant the migratory instinct, except in the very slightest measure in the chickadee’s nature, his travels are mostly local and his spruce little form may be seen in all seasons. During the fall and winter, after the fidgety wrens have departed for the sunny southland, is the most favorable time to study the habits of the chickadee. His actions may then be observed most readily, as he flits among the bare branches in search of prey, occasionally taking time to utter his cheerful chick-adee-dee.
He is a great aid to the fruit grower. Let anyone that doubts this repair to an orchard and observe a company of them taking their meals. And it is an interesting sight to watch a merry party of these little creatures, as with never-ceasing activity they dexterously explore the trees for food. With the greatest nicety they poise in every conceivable attitude; from the trunk they dart to the topmost spray, now to the center of the tree and then instantly to the outside branches. While searching the trunk or a perpendicular branch, the head may be upward or the reverse; or if a horizontal branch is undergoing examination his feet are as likely to point heavenward as not; or he may hang suspended from a swaying twig. Ever in motion, flitting, hopping, swinging to and fro, they investigate every nook and cranny and draw numberless injurious insects, their eggs and larvae from their lurking places. The chickadee’s tongue, a fork-shaped instrument, is admirably adapted to prying its prey out of crevices of bark.
They by no means confine their work to the orchard, but all kinds of trees and shrubs are alike visited. In thus performing the duty assigned them by Nature they are of inestimable service to man.
Addie L. Booker.