April 1888.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



57 



chose was in a much finer condition than any 

 neighboring ones. I never heard of a Hrown 

 Thrasher in such a densely populati'd locality. 



The White-breasted Nuthatch. 



Siita carolinensis. 



BY C. M. JOSES, EASTKOKD, CONN. 



The Nuthatch is so retiring iu its habits that 

 It fails to secure the attention to which its 

 character entitles it, for it has a character of 

 its own, and is really a very interesting bird. 

 Occasionally, either in summer or winter, it 

 makes us a short call, and runs nimbly up and 

 down the shade trees about our dwellings, ut- 

 tering its unmusical but cheerful " hwank." 

 But it is really a bird of the woods, where it 

 roams at will in the highest tree tops or down 

 to a rotten or a decaying log, and rarely hops 

 along on the ground. The trunks and larger 

 branches of the trees, however, are its principal 

 foraging grounds. .\t all times, it seems to be 

 burdened with the conviction that the chief end 

 of Nuthatchers is to work. It is seldom seen 

 at rest, though I remember, on one occasion, 

 watching one for a considerable time, as it 

 hung head downward, on the side of a tree, 

 apparently asleep. 



These birds commonly go in pairs the year 

 round, and probably remain paired for life. 

 When one is seen, it is quite certain that the 

 other is not far off, and by listening a few min- 

 ntes it may usually be discovered. Much of 

 the time they keep pretty near together, fre- 

 quently iu the same tree, and when one leads 

 off to another place the other will soon follow. 

 While engaged in this work, they may fre- 

 quently be heard chattering iu a low, conversa- 

 tional manner, apparently very edifying to 

 themselves but not intended for other ears, 

 since the notes can be heard at only a short 

 distance. But when the winter is over and 

 gone, and the milder weather begins to loosen 

 the Ice King, the Nuthatches are quick to feel 

 the change. And though the winds may be 

 high and the atmosphere chilly, their loud 

 notes can be heard ringing through the woods, 

 often the only notes to be distinguished al)ovc 

 the roaring of the winds. 



In the latter part of April, household matters 

 begin to occupy much of their time. .\s to the 

 locality of their home they are not very partic- 

 ular. It is usually in the woods, sometimes in 

 more open land ; always in a cavity in a tree, 

 and almost invariably in a live tree, where a 



dead lin)h has rotted out. Once I found the 

 liird nesting in a dead stub, in what looked 

 like an old woodpecker's nest, the only de|)ai- 

 ture from the general rule that 1 have seen. 

 They are quite indifferent as to attitude ; any- 

 where from six to sixty feet, or even more, 

 from the ground. .Sometimes the entrance is 

 barely large enough to admit the bird ; at 

 otheis, so large as to allow a person to insert 

 hie hand. .Some of their nesting sites are so 

 situated, the entrance being at the under side 

 of a limb or leaning tree, as to entirely protect 

 them from storms; and yet the birds do not 

 seem to take this into consideration at all in se- 

 lecting a nesting place, for I have seen nests so 

 exposed that the rain could readily beat into 

 them, and I remember one in particular placed 

 down in the crotch of a tree in such a situation 

 that not only could it rain into the nest, but 

 more or less of the water running down the 

 two upright stems would fall into the cavity. 



The nest itself is a mass of fine material, 

 such as hair, rabbit's fur, and the inner bark 

 from dead trees, the whole forming a soft, but 

 rather inartistic bed for the young. In this are 

 deposited the eggs, from six to eight in num- 

 ber, seven being the more common. Different 

 clutches vary somewhat in size, owing doubt- 

 less to the age of the bird, and some are more 

 highly marked than others. Fresh, unblown 

 eggs have a beautiful i)inkisli tint which entire- 

 ly disappears when the contents are removed. 

 Usually in this latitude the eggs are deposited, 

 and incubation begins by the eighth of May, 

 but I have known a cold, backward season to 

 cause a delay of ten days. 



At the season of nest building, I have often 

 seen the birds busily engaged in picking off" 

 small pieces of bark from trees and carrying 

 them into holes, as if they were engaged in 

 buililing a nest. At first I supposed they were 

 using this material as a foundation, but in no 

 instance has this proved true, for I have in- 

 variably failed afterwards to find a nest or any 

 proper nesting material in tViese places. What 

 object they can have in such work I do not un- 

 derstand. 



Some years ago I witnessed a very odd per- 

 formance by one of these birds. It was in the 

 latter part of April. I was sitting down in a 

 piece of heavy timber and watching a pair of 

 Red-tailed Hawks which had a nest there, when 

 a Nuthatch fiew into a very large chestnut tree 

 near by, and immediately ran into a small hole 

 about a dozen feet from the ground. I had not 

 much more than time to wonder why she 

 had chosen that for a nesting place, when 



