8 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



2. Each pair of Nuthatches had a definite feeding territory throughout the year., 



3. The size of the territory in the winter was about 25 or 30 acres in wooded 

 country and apparently about 50 acres in seiniwooded country. 4. They ranged 

 over an approximately equal area during the nesting season, though it was not 

 necessarily tlie same area. 5. Feeding stations had no effect on the feeding 

 range of the Nuthatch. 6. Feeding stations should be about one-fourth of a mile 

 apart for the Nuthatch. 7. The nest is built in or near the winter feeding terri- 

 tory. 8. Besides the mated pairs which have established territories there are 

 a number of wandering birds. 9. In case of the disappearance of one member 

 of a mated pair, its place may be talien by one of these wandering birds. 10. 

 Nuthatches may nest in the same hole for successive seasons. 11. The large 

 size of both winter and breeding territories is apparently not caused by inability 

 of the birds to find sutHcient food in a smaller area. They are able to obtain 

 plenty of food quite near the nest. The feeding of the young birds is apparently 

 not such a severe task as it is commonly supposed to be. 



Francis Zirrer, of Hayward, Wis., writes (MS.) : "The families 

 stay together until about the end of November, as up to that time the 

 old birds are still occasionally feeding the young, which at first are 

 somewhat reluctant to come to the feeding table. Later, the old males 

 usurp the table and chase, or try to chase, all others away. They tame 

 readily, come to the hand for food, but know perfectly well the dif- 

 ference in size of the food; they will come, pick the first piece, but 

 seeing a larger piece will pause a little, drop the first one and take 

 the largest. If no food is on the table, they will come to the window, 

 or visit the woodland dweller at his place in the woods, where he 

 works at his winter supply of fuel, often a considerable distance from 

 home; and there is usually no rest until he returns to the cabin and 

 fills the table with a fresh supply of food. They become so used to a 

 certain person and his call that they will, if within hearing distance, 

 come and follow long distances through the woods. Met in the woods 

 during the breeding season, often more than a mile away, they will 

 come at the call and sit on the hand, head, or shoulder. Of course, 

 it is advisable to carry something in the pockets, which one used to 

 such things usually does. As a rule, they are quite fearless, even 

 bold ; during the nesting season of the goshawk, which nested several 

 years a few hundred yards from the cabin, the bold little imps in- 

 spected fearlessly the limbs and trunk of the nesting tree, apparently 

 not fearing the fierce raptores a few feet or yards away." 



Voice. — Most of the notes of the white-breasted nuthatch bear a de- 

 cided resemblance to the human voice ; they seem to be spoken or whis- 

 tled. A song, for example, may be likened to a man whistling to a 

 dog— a regular series of about six or eight notes, sometimes more, 

 sharply accented, striking the same pitch, each with a slight rising 

 inflection. The pitch is commonly D next but one above middle C. 

 When a bird is singing near at hand the voice loses some of its whistled 

 quality and becomes full, resonant, almost mellow. The song has been 

 variously rendered into syllables such as hah-hah-hah, tway, tway, 



