LAND BIRDS. 691 



Reef Light, Lake Huron, August 19, 1889, August 28, 1895, September 16, 

 1888 and September 29, 1889. 



During the southward migration, in September and October, this Httle 

 bird is often abundant among red cedars and the various pines and spruces, 

 from which it gathers the seeds in large numbers and stores them beneath 

 scales of bark, in crevices in tree trunks, and, as the writer has repeatedly 

 noticed, in the punctures made by the Sapsucker in various species of 

 trees. In several cases we have known one of these Nuthatches to spend 

 apparently his entire time for several days in succession in collecting seeds 

 from the cones of a pine tree and storing them in various hiding places in 

 the vicinity. During the winter one or more can usually be found on the 

 College campus visiting the bones and other food supplies put out for the 

 purpose of attracting birds. 



Apparently much remains to be learned of the nesting habits of the 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch. It is reported as breeding commonly in all 

 the northern sections of the state wherever pine or other evergreens are 

 abundant, l)ut very few observers have actually seen, or at least recorded, 

 the nest. It does not seem to restrict itself so closely as does the White- 

 breast to the natural cavities of trees, but often, perhaps most often, makes 

 use of a deserted woodpecker's hole, in which it Iniilds a nest of soft 

 materials, much like that of the White-bellied Nuthatch, laying from 

 four to six or more eggs which are creamy white, speckled sparsely with 

 reddish brown, and average .59 by .46 inches. 



Dr. W. H. Dunham reports finding a nest in Kalkaska county on Ma}' 

 17, 1899, placed in a hole in a maple stub, about thirty feet up and con- 

 taining four fresh eggs. He says that the opening to the nest was smeared 

 with pitch, especially on the lower side, and this appeal's to be a very 

 general habit of the species, and so far as we know is unique, no other 

 bird using pitch about its nest. No explanation of the presence of the 

 pitch is offered and the use, if it has one, is quite problematical. Since 

 the bird gets a very large part of its food from resinous trees, and especiall}' 

 from cones, its feet and beak might often be smeared with pitch, yet this 

 certainly would not account for its presence in such large quantities about 

 the nesting hole. Mr. Clias. E. Engles records the finding of a nest of 

 this species at Templeton, Mass., June 10, 1894, which contained three 

 fresh eggs of the Nuthatch and two young bii'ds, which in all probability 

 were White-bellied Swallows. No good explanation for this mingling 

 of families is given, but it is at least possible that the Nuthatch had ousted 

 the Swallow, added some eggs of her own and incidentally hatched some 

 of the Swallow's eggs. The date is unusually late, for this species is supposed 

 to nest c^uite early in the spring. Nests found June 2, on an island in 

 Penobscot Bay, Me., and another June 20, at Holden, Me., contained 

 eggs, and the openings to both nests were liberall)' coated with pitch. One 

 of these was in a white birch stub, and the other in a poplar stul) some t welve 

 feet from the ground. The hole in the latter case had "fir balsam one- 

 fourth of an inch thick for two inches below the hole, and then thinner, 

 and running down in long drops for twenty-one inches l)elow the hole. 

 The pitch extended one inch on either side and more than three inches 

 above the hole, in all more than could be heaped ujion a large tablespoon." 



The food of this bird is presumably much like that of the White-bellied 

 Nuthatch, yet it seems to be much more fond of the seetls of cones, and 

 possibly does not consume as many insects. It is said to visit the ground 

 much less frequently, l)ut so far as otii- own observMlion goes there is little 



