Nuthatches WESTERN BIRDS 



FAMILY— SITTID^: NUTHATCHES. 



The Nuthatches are among the most interesting of 

 our feathered folk because of their ways. They are 

 birds of the deep forests where they build their nests 

 in deserted holes, from a few feet to a great height from 

 the ground. Sometimes the birds excavate for them- 

 selves. 



The various members of the family are from four to 

 six inches long, with short stubby tails and long sharp 

 bills which in some species turn slightly upward. The 

 name — Nuthatch — seems to be a misnomer for, while the 

 birds are fond of nuts when some human being is accom- 

 modating enough to crack them for them, their bills seem 

 not to have been intended to crack hard-shelled nuts. 

 They have a way of storing their food, such as sun- 

 flower seeds, acorns, corn, by stuffing it into the crevices 

 of bark and hammering it in. The food is scattered 

 around rather than stored in one particular place as the 

 Jays so often do. 



The characteristic which makes these Nuthatches so 

 easy to identify is their acrobatic performances on tree 

 trunks and limbs. Every bird student is familiar with 

 the jerky movements of our Woodpeckers as they ascend 

 a tree trunk by hops, supporting themselves by their 

 strong sharp-pointed tails, and being aided in their move- 

 ments by the toes, two of which, in most species, point 

 forward and two backward. You remember that the 

 Woodpecker usually goes upward and when he tries to 

 descend it is by a backward jerky movement that is 

 anything but graceful. He never descends head foremost. 



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