26 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hundred yards from the nest, and they moved about easily, sometimes 

 hanging back-downward from the branches. They did not venture 

 out to the ends of the twigs among the needles (as the parents did 

 for food) but remained not far from the trunk. Although the young 

 birds picked at the bark of the branches, I could not be sure that they 

 gathered any food for themselves. 



We get a hint of the rapidity of the development of very young 

 nuthatches from the account of Florence K. Daley (1926) , who reared 

 in a cage some young birds from the time when they were "not more 

 than a few days old" until they could care for themselves. She fed 

 them on bread and milk, water, and "Song Restorer" and after 2 

 weeks was able to liberate them safely. 



In the opinion of Cordelia J. Stanwood (MS.), who has studied 

 the nesting of the bird extensively at Ellsworth, Maine, the young 

 red-breasted nuthatches leave the nest 18 to 21 days after hatching. 

 F. L. Burns ( 1921) gives the period of nestling life as 14 days or more, 

 and the incubation period (1915) as 12 days. 



Plumages. — [Author's note: The natal down of the young red- 

 breasted nuthatch is dark gray. In the juvenal plumage the sexes 

 are distinguishable, the young males resembling the adult males and 

 the young females resembling the adult females, but all the colors 

 are duller. There are faint black edgings on the back, the black 

 portions of the head are much duller, the white superciliary stripe, 

 chin, and sides of the head are speckled with black, and the under- 

 parts are pinkish buff, deepening to pale cinnamon on the crissum. 



A partial postjuvenal molt begins late in July, involving the con- 

 tour plumage but not the wings and tail. This produces a first winter 

 plumage which is practically adult, the back being a darker, bluish 

 gray, the pileum (in the male) glossy black, the w^hite portions of the 

 head w^ithout black speckling, and the underparts more richly and 

 deeply colored. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, mainly in July. There is 

 no spring molt, but considerable wear and fading make the spring 

 plumage almost as pale as that of the juvenal,] 



Foof/.— Waldo L. McAtee (1926a), summarizing our knowledge of 

 the food of the red-breasted nuthatch, says : "Unfortunately we know 

 very little about the food of this species. It is very fond of the seeds 

 of pines, spruces, and the like, which it takes in lieu of the larger 

 mast favored by the Wliite-breast. The animal food is known to 

 include beetles, hymenoptera, and spiders, and among forest pests 

 it has been observed to feed on the ribbed pine borer {Rhagimn line- 

 atvm) . No doubt the Red-breast does its modicum of good to com- 

 pensate for the tree seeds which it draws from a store which usually 

 is superabundant." 



Ora Willis Knight (1908) speaks of the diet thus: 



