WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 11 



"This species, though met with on nearly all visits, has never been very 

 common. Usually a few scattered individuals have made the day's 

 record. Our date of greatest abundance was October 14, 1906, when 

 10 were listed. * * * Our fall dates are conflicting, but seem to 

 indicate that migrants arrive irregularly from the last of August to 

 the middle of September." 



The nuthatch, as we know him best, is an autumn and winter bird. 

 We meet him hopping about the leafless trees, settled in some wood- 

 land, generally in the company of his mate. Here through the whole 

 winter he remains in a domain that he has established as his winter 

 quarters, and where he roosts in some sheltered cavity. He often ap- 

 pears to be alone, but if we listen we may hear his mate answering 

 from a distance his little piglike, grunting call. Thus the pair keeps 

 in touch, and when, drifting through the woodland, they meet and 

 feed in close proximity, they exchange salutations back and forth with 

 their soft, conversational hit^ hit. The chickadees and creepers often 

 join them for a time, all three species, with sometimes a downy wood- 

 pecker, searching for food in the same trees, until the more restless 

 birds flit onward and leave the nuthatches alone again. 



DISTKIBUTION 



Range. — Southern Canada to southern Mexico. 



The white-breasted nuthatch ranges north to British Columbia 

 (150-mile House) ; Alberta (Swift Current Rapids and Beaver Hills) ; 

 Saskatchewan (probably Prince Albert) ; Manitoba (Lake St. Martin, 

 Kalevala, and Wimiipeg) ; Ontario (Sudbury and Ottawa) ; Quebec 

 (Montreal) ; New Brunswick (Grand Falls) ; Prince Edward Island 

 (North River) ; and Nova Scotia (Pictou). From this line the white- 

 breasted nuthatch is found in every State to the Gulf coast and south 

 in Mexico to Veracruz (Las Vigas) ; Puebla (Mount Orizaba) ; 

 Guerrero (Chilpancingo) ; and Baja California (Victoria Mountains) . 



The white-breasted nuthatch is not truly migratory, but apparently 

 it sometimes withdraws in winter from the northernmost part of its 

 range and from the higher altitudes. On the Atlantic coast it is found 

 in some parts of the Coastal Plain more in winter than during the 

 breeding season. 



The above outline applies to the species as a whole. At least seven 

 races are recognized within our area, and additional ones in IMexico. 

 The southern white-breasted nuthatch {S. c. carolinensis) occupies the 

 southeastern zone from North Carolina and Tennessee southward. 

 The eastern white-breasted nuthatch {S. c. coohei) occurs in the north- 

 eastern part from Manitoba eastward and south to Virginia and 

 eastern Kansas and extending to central Texas. The Rocky Mountain 

 nuthatch {S. c. nelsoni) occurs from northern Montana to northern 



