76 BED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 



nesting habits of the Nuthatches he notes that 

 both birds work together, " all the time congratu- 

 lating each other in the tenderest manner. The 

 male, ever conspicuous on such occasions, works 

 some, and carries off the slender chips chiseled 

 by the female. He struts around her, peeps into 

 the hole, cherups at intervals, or hovers about her 

 on the wing. While she is sitting on her eggs, he 

 seldom absents himself many moments ; now with 

 a full bill he feeds her, now returns to be assured 

 that her time is pleasantly spent." 



The Nuthatches nest as they mainly live, in the 

 woods, and their notes are among the softest, most 

 pleasing sounds in nature. They have a peculiar 

 woodland quality which, like the drumming of 

 the Grouse, has the power of transporting one to 

 the quiet, leafy forest. 



Red-breasted Nuthatch : Sitta canadensis. 

 (Fig. 33, p. 77.) 



Male, top of head and line through the eye black ; line over eye 

 white ; upper parts bluish gray ; under parts reddish brown. 

 Female, similar, but black replaced by bluish gray. Length, 

 about 44^ inches. 



Geographic Distribution. — North America ; breeds from 

 Manitoba and Maine northward, and southward along- the 

 Alleghanies tb the mountains of North Carolina ; winters 

 from about the southern limit of its breeding- range to the 

 Gulf states. 



The Nuthatch is a bird who always seems self- 

 possessed and full of business. Even the one that 



