WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 3 



Tbis species is one of the most characteristic birds of the scattered short 

 stretches of woods in the open valleys, one pair at least, frequently two, being 

 found in each one. Nesting is well under way by the middle of April, and by 

 the latter part of that month or the first of May these birds are incubating full 

 sets of from seven to nine eggs, the last being actually the commoner number. 

 The nests are invariably in knot holes in the trunks of the larger trees, varying in 

 height from 15 to 50 feet from the ground, the cavity itself being 6 to 8 inches 

 in depth, and usually 6 inches from the entrance. The nests are substantial mat- 

 ted beds of soft shreds of inner bark and rabbits' fur, with rarely a little wool, 

 cow hair, and chicken feathers. But one brood is raised each year. 



Francis H. Allen says in his notes for April 18. 1942: "My atten- 

 tion was called by low-pitched notes of indeterminate character. I 

 found a pair acting in a strange manner about a bird house on the 

 side of a tree. Besides feeding or going through the motions of 

 picking food from the bark, they spent much of the time in wiping 

 the bill from side to side — ^that is, the right side and left side of the 

 bill alternately in rapid succession over and over for a considerable 

 period of time in each bout. It was like the swinging of a pendulum 

 in its regularity. The male did most of this, but the female also took 

 part. A courtship rite was suggested, though it was not accompanied 

 by any form of display. It was so regular and so long contmued 

 that I do not think it could have been merely for the purpose of clean- 

 ing the bill, though it may have started in that way and have been 

 continued by imitation and as a sort of play." 



William Brewster (1936) writes thus of the birds nesting in Con- 

 cord, Mass. : 



There is a round hole about S\^ inches in diameter 60 feet above the ground in 

 our big elm, in which a pair of Flickers reared their brood 6 or 7 years ago. It 

 has since been occupied at all seasons by gray squirrels. I have seen three ani- 

 mals enter and leave it within a week. Yet this morning about 8 o'clock a pair 

 of White-bellied Nuthatches were building a nest there. The female did most 

 of the work and performed it with remarkable rapidity. She would run out on 

 a large branch, pry off a scale of bark 5 or 6 inches long, take it into the hole 

 and almost instantly reappear and go after another. The male occasionally got 

 one and simply poked it into the hole, without entering himself. 



Of the several accounts in the literature of nuthatches breeding in 

 bird boxes the following is an example, showing also the bird's method 

 of obtaining rabbit fur for the lining of its nest. Lucien Harris 

 (1927), of Atlanta, Ga.. writes: 



I saw a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches carrying strips of bark into the 

 soap bos. Often they would carry strips larger than themselves. They were very 

 industrious and paid no attention to us. The birds used the bark to cover the 

 entire floor of the bos and the layer was about half an inch in thickness. They 

 then proceeded to collect little pellets of dried earth and lumps of mud which 

 was scattered thinly over the bark. 



After this preliminary they started on the nest proper, which they placed in a 

 back corner of the box. The nest was saucer-shaped and constructed of small 

 twigs, grasses and rootlets. 



