Nuthatch WESTERN BIRDS 



Economically these birds are most beneficial, guarding 

 as they do the bark and crevices of the trees, and finding 

 many a pest that would otherwise be overlooked. 



On November 19, 1919, one of these birds appeared in 

 my yard, and rested on a tree, head down, for fully five 

 minutes, seeming not to care that I was only a few feet 

 away. These birds were noted in other places during the 

 winter. 



GENUS SITTA: RED-BREASTED 

 NUTHATCH. 



Red-Breasted Nuthatch: Sitta canadensis. 

 FAMILY— NUTHATCHES. 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch is found both east and 

 west, breeding from above the United States south to 

 northern Minnesota, Michigan, and Massachusetts, and 

 south in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains to 

 California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and in the Alle- 

 ghenies to North Carolina, wintering from southern 

 Canada to Lower California, New Mexico, Arizona, and 

 the Gulf Coast. 



He prefers the high altitudes among the pines and firs, 

 rather than the deciduous forest trees which shelter the 

 White-breasted. 



It is scarcely five inches long and in plumage differs 

 from the others here considered in having reddish-brown 

 under parts and a white line which cuts into the black 

 above the eye. This white stripe above the eye is most 

 noticeable and makes identification easy. 



The note is unmistakably that of a Nuthatch, but is a 

 higher, more nasal, slightly drawled note which has been 

 translated as yna, yna, by Chapman, and nyd, nyd, oft 



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