FAMILY SittidcB 



The nuthatches are small, soft-plumaged, 

 square-tailed little birds that spend their 

 lives running up and down the tree trunks 

 looking for food. All of them are denizens 

 of the forests, usually keeping well to the big 

 woods where they lead a more or less solitary 

 life. One seldom sees more than half a dozen 

 together and then it is probably a family 

 party. In the winter however they often 

 congregate in good-sized flocks to w^ander 

 about in search of food during the day, and 

 sleep together in old woodpeckers holes at 

 night. One observer counted twenty-one 

 pygmy nuthatches coming out of one hole 

 in the early morning. 



Nuthatches build their nests in natural 

 cavities in trees, old woodpeckers' holes and 

 in holes which they dig for themselves in 

 decayed trees. 



The nests are lined with bits of wool, plant 

 down, feathers and the brown fuzz gathered 

 from the stems of ferns. The five to nine tiny 

 eggs are pure white thickly speckled with 

 reddish brown. After leaving the nest the 

 young follow the parents about begging for 

 food, and a party of them perched on the top 

 of an old snag holding an animated conversa- 

 tion in nuthatch language is an interesting 

 sight. 



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