36 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



it breeds along the Atlantic slope as far north as southern Delaware, in 

 the Gulf States as far west as eastern Texas, and up the Mississippi 

 Valley as far as eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri. 



Its favorite haunts are in the pine woods, especially in the more 

 open parts and in the clearings and burnt-over areas, where it finds a 

 number of old stumps in which to excavate its nest; but it is found 

 also to some extent in mixed forests of pines and hardwoods and in 

 some of the small cypress swamps in such woods. M. P. Skinner 

 (1928) says that, in North Carolina, he has found it "on the trunks of 

 loblolly pines, long-leaf pines, shrub oaks, gums and hardwood trees 

 of various kinds." 



Dr. Eugene E. Murphey (1937) says that, in the middle Savanna 

 Valley, it "prefers open pine woods and deadenings and seems to have 

 a particular fondness for large pines which have been riven by light- 

 ning. Within the last 15 years, many areas of impounded water have 

 been created, some for power, others for fishing, with the resultant 

 death of the trees where the water level has been raised. In a short 

 time the bark falls from these trees leaving a denuded, decaying trunk 

 which seems to be most attractive as a nesting site. Six nests were 

 found so located in a pond of not more than fifty acres in extent in 

 Richmond County, Georgia, 1920." 



Nesting. — The brown-headed nuthatch builds its nest in a tree, 

 stump, or post, which apparently is usually, if not invariably, par- 

 tially or wholly excavated by the birds themselves. I can find little 

 evidence that it occupies old holes of the woodpeckers, but it may en- 

 large a natural crevice or cavity. The height from the ground varies 

 from 2 to 50 feet, wherever it can find the right conditions ; but most 

 of the nests recorded have been far below the higher figure, nearly all 

 of them at less than 10 feet above ground. A preference seems to be 

 shown for pines or pine stubs, often fire-blackened stumps, and for 

 dead trees. Nests have been found in a dead apple-tree stump, a birch 

 stub, a pear tree, an ash tree, and probably in several other kinds of 

 trees. The cavity is usually excavated to a depth of from 6 to 9 inches, 

 uncommonly more or less. This is sometimes filled with only dry 

 grasses and weed stems, but more often with strips of inner bark, chips 

 of wood, wool, cotton, strips of corn husks, and perhaps a few feathers ; 

 the leaves of pine seeds are favorite nesting material and are found in 

 many nests, sometimes forming the entire nest. Frequently the nest 

 hole is excavated in a fence post, a gate post, or a telegraph or tele- 

 phone pole. 



Nesting begins early ; both birds take part in excavating the holes ; 

 and often several holes are started before one is finally selected for the 

 nest. Mr. Skinner (1928), in the sandhills of North Carolina, on 

 March 16, 1927, "found a pair industriously digging in the dead stub 



