The White-Breasted and Red-Breasted Nuthatches 317 



it has nothing of the nk in it, while it has a distinct r-hke quaver. It may be 

 rendered as pr-r-ddp, sounded through the nose. Another note, reserved for 

 closer companionship, or soliloquy, is like the syllable tiit, pronounced as in 

 German, very short and slight, and repeated irregularly and indefmitely. 



The home life of the White-breasted Nuthatch is not so well known to 

 most of us as his winter ways, because he is rather retiring during the nesting- 

 season, preferring the woods with a growth of large oaks or other hardwood 

 trees to the neighborhood of human habitations. The spring song, however, 

 begins before the bird leaves his winter haunts. It resembles the familiar 

 laugh of the Flicker but is not nearly so loud and is rather more pleasing in 

 tone. It consists of eight or ten repetitions of a single syllable, — what-what- 

 what-what-what-what-what-'what, or ha-ha-ha-ha, etc., — less nasal and more 

 liquid in c|uality than the call-note. 



The nest, which is placed in a hole in a tree or some similar 

 Nest situation, is prepared in March or April according to locality. 



The hole is usually a natural one in a decayed part of a living 

 tree or in a dead tree or stub. It is enlarged and shaped by the birds, both 

 sexes working together. The lining is made of such materials as feathers, 

 hair, fur, bark-strips, and leaves, loosely thrown together. From six to nine 

 eggs are laid. These are white or cream-white, thickly and uniformly spotted 

 with reddish brown and lavender. 



The male White-breasted Nuthatch is a particularly devoted husband. 

 He carries food to his sitting mate, calling her to the mouth of the nesting-hole 

 to receive it. At other times of the year, too, the pair keep together faithfully, 

 hunting their food in close proximity to each other and keeping up a contin- 

 uous conversation of pr-r-ddps and tiit-tiiis. 



The Nuthatch has a stout bill and a strong gizzard, and 

 Food when he finds his insect food scarce he ekes out his subsistence 



with seeds and nuts. The habit of hatching, or hacking, chest- 

 nuts, beechnuts, acorns, and similar soft-shelled nuts, has given his kind its 

 name of Nuthatch. The nut is wedged into a crevice to hold it while the bird 

 hammers it open. Another interesting habit of this and the related species is 

 that of hiding nuts in cracks and crevices in the bark of trees and such situa- 

 tions, presumably for the purpose of keeping them safe for future use. This 

 vegetable food, however, seems to form a comparatively small part of the White- 

 breasted Nuthatch's diet. Mr. E. H. Forbush, one of the latest authorities 

 to write on the economic status of this bird, regards it as a valuable species 

 from that point of view. It feeds largely on beetles, including the boring 

 beetles, on scale insects, and on many hibernating larvae and pupae as well as 

 insect eggs. Ants and spiders are also eaten, and canker-worms, forest cater- 

 pillars, and plant-lice. One pair in Brookline, Mass., was seen to search beneath 

 the burlap bands for the caterpillars of the gypsy moth, which they fed to 

 their young in large numbers. 



