RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 31 



series, with brief pauses between the series. This is also a scolding 

 note of the male. (4) A long trill, like the song of a toad. This was 

 uttered by the male when chasing his mate. (5) A loud, prolonged 

 twitter. This was uttered by the male while near his mate. (6) A fine 

 it^ if, if, if, etc. I have recorded this for the female only. (7) An in- 

 quiring little ehf ehf eh? This was uttered by both sexes when I was 

 offering them suet, and they were near me, but were not quite sure 

 whether or not they should trust me. (8) A peep, peep, peep, etc., 

 ]ike the note of a young biM begging for food. This was uttered by 

 the female, when she, with fluttering wings, sat on a limb near where 

 the male was eating suet, but I could not see that either bird paid any 

 particular attention to the other at this time. (9) A true song, which 

 I have heard but once, viz, about 6 o'clock on the morning of March 

 26, 1920, near Quebec, P. Q. It consisted of the ordinary loud yna, 

 yna, given very fast in short series, or runs, almost trills. It was much 

 like the early morning singing of the chipping sparrow, the notes 

 being uttered about as rapidly in each brief series, and the individual 

 series being of about the same length, but the intervals between the 

 series were a little longer in the case of the nuthatch. Singing con- 

 tinued for 2 or 3 minutes, while another red-breasted nuthatch twit- 

 tered excitedly in a nearby tree." 



Bradford Torrey (1904) , in this pretty passage, lets us hear, through 

 his ears, the sound of the nuthatches' voice in a New Hampshire for- 

 est : "There is seldom a minute when, if I pause to listen, I cannot hear 

 from one direction or another the quaint, homely, twangy, countryfied, 

 yet to me alwaj^s agreeable voice of Canadian nuthatches. At fre- 

 quent intervals one or two come near enough so that I see them creep- 

 ing about over the trees, bodies bent, heads down, always in search of 

 a mouthful, yet keeping up, every one, his share of the universal 

 chorus." And later: "On all sides the little nuthatches were calling 

 to each other in their quaint childish treble." 



Field marks. — The red-breasted nuthatch is a trim, stylish-looking 

 little bird ; the dark line through the eye adds a distinction to its ap- 

 pearance that the whitebreast lacks ; the blue-gray, black, and tawny 

 coloring makes a pleasing artistic combination, and the diminutive 

 tail supplies a piquant effect. 



Enemies. — ^Although this nuthatch is exposed to the vicissitudes 

 that beset most small birds, it is an abundant and widely spread spe- 

 cies. Doubtless its quickness and agility as well as the protection 

 that thick evergreen growth affords render it comparatively safe. 



Joe T. Marshall, Jr. (1942) , lists a red-breasted nuthatch as having 

 been found in a pellet of the spotted owl. 



Fall and winfer. — As autumn draws near, those of us who live near 

 the Atlantic seaboard to the south of the Canadian forests are on the 

 alert to detect the earliest sign that the red-breasted nuthatches have 



