412 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



built in cavities or knot-holes of trees and stumps, composed of feath- 

 ers and sometimes mostly of rabbit's fur. 



Six or seven eggs are usually laid ; they are creamy-white speck- 

 led with reddish-brown and hazel. Captain B. F. Goss has a set of 

 seven eggs in his extensive collection which he took from a hole in a 

 tree seven feet from the ground, in Southern California, May 7, 1884. 

 These measure respectively, .75 x^, .75x. 53 , . 74x^3, -73X.57, .78 x 

 .54, .7ix.57, -72X.56. A set of six in Mr. Norris' cabinet was taken 

 near Kingston, New Mexico, May 4, 1885. These measure . 73x^3, 

 7 IX -53> -73 x -54> -73 x -54> -74 x -54> -75 x -54- 



728. Sitta canadensis LINN. [52.] 



Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



Hab. Whole of North America, breeding chiefly north of the United States, except in western 

 mountainous regions ; Eastern United States chiefly in winter. 



This is a common bird throughout North America, breeding from 

 Northern United States northward. Its habits are essentially the same 

 as those of 5. carolinensis. Mr. Manly Hardy has written a good ac- 

 account of this bird's breeding habits in Maine.* He found them nest- 

 ing in white birch and poplar stubs, usually from ten to fifteen feet, 

 and sometimes as low down as four feet above the ground. In making 

 the entrance to the nest-cavity proper, the birds perforate the bark in 

 a circle with smaller holes, and then take out the center piece. A 

 strange fact concerning the nests found by Mr. Hardy and others, is 

 that the bark at their entrance is coated with fir balsam or pitch from 

 an inch to three or four inches around the hole. In one instance the 

 pitch extended down for twenty-one inches, and was stuck full of the 

 red breast-feathers of the Nuthatches. The cavities are about four 

 inches deep, in which the nest is made of fine grass. 



The eggs, four to six in number, are very thickly spotted with red- 

 dish-brown. Average size .6ox.5o. 



729. Sitta pusilla LATH. [53.] 



Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf States, north regularly to Southern Maryland and Virginia, casually 

 to Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, etc. 



The home of the Brown-headed Nuthatch is in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, where it is a common breeder. Its habits are gen- 

 eric. Mr. Arthur T. Wayne states that in South Carolina the Brown- 

 headed Nuthatch pairs in the latter part of January, and the birds be- 

 gin to excavate a hole in a dead stump or limb of a tree, usually not 

 more than a few feet or inches from the ground, and, again, as high as 

 forty or fifty feet. Eggs may be obtained in March, as four or five 



* Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, III, 196. 



