OF NEW ENGLAND. 67 



a decayed tree, a situation in which I have never found the 

 home of a titmouse. In northern New England the female 

 lays about June first, and occasionally again in July. 



(c). The Red-bellied Nuthatches habitually spend the sum- 

 mer in the woods and forests of northern New England and 

 other rather cold countries, though a few may occasionally 

 breed in this State, particularly in the western and well- 

 wooded portions. They appear in Massachusetts about the 

 first of October, and I have invariably found them quite com- 

 mon during that month in the neighborhood of Boston. Many 

 retire to the South in November ; and those who pass the win- 

 ter here may easily escape observation, for they are generally 

 silent, often frequent the large tracts of woods which are but 

 little penetrated by man in midwinter, and not unfrequently 

 almost lose their individuality, so to speak, by joining troops 

 of Chickadees. They are by no means rare in April or the 

 earl}'^ part of May, when many pass through in their annual 

 spring-migrations. As I have intimated, they are so sociable 

 as to associate somewhat with other birds, but they are not 

 often gregarious in Massachusetts, and usually are seen singly 

 or in pairs, and not in flocks, as they are further north. They 

 are more fond of pines than other trees, feeding upon their 

 seeds, as well as on the insects about them, and among them 

 are to be found, busied in almost every conceivable attitude, 

 sometimes moving up and down the trunk, as often with the 

 head pointing downward as upward, and at other times scram- 

 bling about the branches or the cones. They are not confined, 

 however, to trees, for they sometimes climb about fences or 

 old buildings, and occasionally descend to the ground, where 

 they pick up fallen seeds. In comparing this species with the 

 White-breasted, Wilson says that " its voice is sharper, and 

 its motions much quicker than those of the other, being so 

 rapid, restless and small, as to make it a difllcult point to shoot 

 one of them. When the two species are in the woods together, 

 they are easily distinguished by their voices, the note of the 

 least being nearly an octave sharper than that of its companion, 

 and repeated more hurriedly." 



