86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



friends and benefactors. He confines himself chiefly, as far as 

 observation proves, to a class of insects hardly reached by any 

 other bird; 1 refer to the Chrysomelidse or leaf beetles, and the 

 larvae of many species of insects, inhabiting the tops of such trees 

 as elm, oak, and apple. 



His clear, shrill clarion enlivens the early morning of the 

 mating season, and his beautiful plumage pleases the eye; yet he 

 lights upon the peas at every available opportunity, and rips the 

 pods from top to bottom while he eats the young peas, and soon 

 strips the vines. At the end of the season, however, a balanced 

 account shows the credit to be largely in his favor. 



WHITE AND RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



Now let us look at a different species of bird, and note the line 

 in which his utility presents itself ; I refer to the white (as also the 

 red)bellied nuthatch. As to the name nuthatch, which is supposed 

 to have been derived from the habit of the bird of cracking nuts, 

 there seems to be some .question amongst authorities. Though th'e 

 bird certainly stores away immense quantities of tender-shelled 

 nuts, like the chestnut and others, Dr. Brewer showed conclusively 

 that it was for the purpose of extracting the insect larva contained 

 therein rather than to feed upon the meat or kernel of the nut 

 itself. However the case may be, strange as it may appear, the 

 white-bellied nuthatch is probably one of our best friends in the 

 economy of nature in saving from destruction our fine forest trees, 

 especially the oak, chestnut, elm, maple, and other rough -barked 

 trees. It has been suggested that the bird injured the trees by 

 tearing off large quantities of bark, and thus exposing the soft 

 inner bark to the weather and to loss of sap ; but not a bit of it. 

 The nuthatch is eminently an insect-eating bird ; it lives upon 

 grubs and the larvae of insects, often eating the insects themselves, 

 as any naturalist who has dissected any number of them will ad- 

 mit. Beneath all these pieces of bark thus apparently ruthlessly 

 torn off, the grub was at work, or the insect in the process of lay- 

 ing its eggs was concealed ; the enemy was captured and the tree 

 saved. All day these little fellows travel up and down the trunks 

 and branches of the forest; round and round, again and again 

 visiting the same portions, or flying from tree to tree as the pros- 

 pect of a good meal presents itself. It rears its young in the 

 woods, and there searches all the more patiently for food for its 



