OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 65 



The eggs never exceed eight in number. The 

 ground-color is white, with reddish-brown marks 

 which are sometimes gathered into a rin^ around 



<_> o 



the larger end; in others, the spots equally dis- 

 tributed over the entire surface. Length on an 

 average is .58 inches and width .46. 



A singular decree of affection subsists between 

 _> o 



the sexes, which is marked by the most endearing 

 attentions and earnest efforts to promote each 

 other's happiness. 



We have remarked that in severe winters some 

 individuals forsake their natural haunts, driven 

 by necessity for those of man, but afterwards re- 

 turn thither on the approach of mild weather; 

 but in the last great work on the birds of North 

 America, we are told that a post or hollow tree 

 contiguous to human habitations, are occasionally 

 selected for nidificating purposes. This fact does 

 not accord with our experience. Perhaps, in cer- 

 tain sections where the forests have disappeared 

 before the face of an advancing civilization, this is 



the case; but, in situations where nature has not 

 been interfered with, and still retains its primitive 

 form and grandeur, the old order of things pre- 

 vails, obviously, for the security thus afforded. 

 Such situations almost in immediate presence of 

 man, once chosen, would continue to be occupied 

 so lon^ as the conditions of the environment re- 



o 



main unaltered. 



Family Sittidse. Nuthatches. 



These birds differ in so many particulars from 



