THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 



Nuthatch Family — Sittidce 



THE Red-breasted Nuthatch is very similar to its 

 white-breasted cousin except that it is smaller, 

 (4/4 to 5 inches), and is yellowish or ^'rusty^* underneath, 

 (except for a white throat), has a white stripe on each side 

 of its black crown, and a black stripe extending through 

 the eye. The head of the female is gray, with white and 

 gray stripes. 



This species is not so well known as the white-breasted 

 nuthatch, because it frequents coniferous forests or woods 

 that contain evergreens. It breeds from the Upper Yukon 

 Valley, central Canada, and northern United States, and 

 winters as far south as lower California, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and the Gulf Coast. 



Mr. Allen says of this bird: "To those who know it the 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch is dear out of all proportion to its 

 size and its musical attainments. It is livelier than its big 

 cousin, and prettier in its markings, and there is something 

 particularly fetching about its quaint little form. It is 

 even less of a songster than the white-breasted species, for 

 prolongations and repetitions of its call-note seem to be 

 all it has that can pass for a song. This call-note can be 

 rendered as aap. It is nasal, like that of the White- 

 breasted Nuthatch, but much higher in pitch, more drawl- 

 ing, and lacks the r. It has been happily likened to the 

 sound of a tiny trumpet or tin horn. 



[76] 



