204 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



wool, and feathers. Eggs : 5 or 6, dull white or 

 creamy specked with shades of chestnut and lavender- 

 gray. 



Distribution. — Coast pine belt of southeastern 



United States, from southern Maryland and southern 

 Delaware to Florida and eastern Texas northward ; 

 irregularly or casually, to New York, Ohio, southern 

 Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, and Bahamas. 



All through the pine woods of the Southern 

 States the Brown-headed Nuthatch is found. It 

 is a diminutive bird, beins; much smaller than the 



Photo by 1 Ij. 1 i.al oil Cu U^j ol \..it i.=u VuU bol. 



NEST OF BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH 



Florida 



common and better-known \\hite-breasted Nut- 

 hatch. Rarely is it ever seen out of the open 

 pine woods. It does not have the habit of feed- 

 ing along the boles of trees like the larger species 



just referred to, but confines its attention to such 

 insects and their eggs as may be found along the 

 higher branches or among the cones and terminal 

 twigs. The birds usually travel in bands, which 

 may possibly constitute the families of the pre- 

 vious year. In the spring until the young leave 

 the nest rarely more than two are found to- 

 gether. Although very small, these birds possess 

 wonderful power when it comes to excavating 

 their nesting-holes in some rotten stump. Of the 

 hundred or more nests that I have examined, 

 few were more than twelve feet from the ground, 

 although in rare instances they may be as high 

 as forty feet. The entrance to the nest is rarely 

 round like that of the Woodpecker, and some- 

 times when the wood is hard it looks more like 

 a crack in the tree than like the entrance to a 

 bird's nest. The hole is excavated to a depth of 

 from five to eight inches, and is abundantly lined 

 with soft materials of various kinds; among 

 which one will usually find wings of the pine- 

 tree seeds. 



The bird possesses a characteristic, but not 

 ofifensive, musk with which the entire nest is 

 scented. Bv smelling in a hole suspected to be 

 occtipied bv the Brown-headed Nuthatch, one can 

 readily tell whether the bird has recently occupied 

 it. 



In Florida nest-building begins in March. 

 These birds appear to have but few natural 

 enemies, although on one occasion I remember 

 looking into a nest that contained a snake, which 

 I subseqtiently discovered had swallowed the 

 female bird. T. Gilbert Pearson. 



Drawing by R. I. Br.^sher 



EROWN-HEADED NDTHATCH (§ nat. size) 



