288 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



He supposed this bird to have a more northern distribution than belongs to 

 it. In the interior they are met with, according- to Audubon, as far north as 

 the southern shores of Lake Erie, where he found them in the autumn. Mr. 

 Audubon found them more numerous in Xew Jersey than anywhere eke. In 

 Ohio and Kentucky tliey are comparatively rare. Mr. Eidgway informs me 

 that this is a rather connnon species iu Southern Illinois in the thickest 

 damp woods in the bottom-lands along the Wabash Eiver. 



According to Wilson, these birds are among the nimblest of its fanuly, and 

 are remarkaldy ftuid of spiders, darting about wherever there is a probaljility 

 of finding these insects. Where branches are Viroken and tlie lea\es \^•itIlered, 

 it searches among them in preference, making a great rustling as it hunts for 

 its prey. Their stomachs are generally found lull of sjiiders and caterpillars. 



These birds are arboreal in their preferences, residing in the interior of 

 woods, and are seldom seen in the open fields. They resort to the ground 

 and turn over the dry leaves in cjuest of insects. They are very nnsusj^i- 

 cious and ea.sy of approach. 



NuttaE. describes their notes and tln'ir haV)its as resembling the common 

 Parus atricapillvs, and remarks that th(fy arc constantly uttering a com- 

 plaining call, sounding like tshc-de-de. 



Until quite recently, nothing has been positively known in regard to its 

 nesting. Auduljon has described its nest as made of dry mos.ses and the 

 fallen blcjom of the hickory and the chestnut, and as built in bushes several 

 feet from tlie ground. He descrilies the eggs as cream-colored, marked about 

 the larger end with reddish-brown. These descrii)tions have not been con- 

 firmed, and all our information has led us to look for its nest on the ground. 



Mr. Ti'ippe states that it is found, but is not at all common, near Orange, 

 N. Y., where it arrives about the middle of May. It has, at that time, a 

 rapid, chattering note, and it always, he says, keeps near the ground, and, 

 besides its chattering song, has in June a series of odd notes, much like 

 those of the White-breasted Nuthatch, but more varied and musical, yet 

 hardly entitled to be called a song. 



Mr. T. H. Jackson of Westchester, Penu., in the American Naturalist for 

 December, 1869, mentions finding the nest and eggs of tiiis bird. We give 

 his account in his own words : " On the 6th of June, 1869, I found a nest 

 of this species containing five eggs. It was placed in a hollow on the ground, 

 much like the nests of the Oven-Bird (Seiurus aurocapillus), and was hidden 

 from sight by the dry leaves that lay thickly around. The nest was com- 

 posed externally of dead leaves, mostly those of the beech, while the inte- 

 rior was prettily lined with the tine, thread-like stalks of the hair-moss, 

 {Poh/trichii/m). Altogetlier it was a very neat structure, and looked to me as 

 though the owner was habitually a ground nester. The eggs most nearly 

 resemble those of the Wliite-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta carolincTisis), though the 

 markings are fewer and less distinct. So close did the female sit that I 

 captured her without difficulty by ])lacing my hat over the nest." 



