144 



THE OSPREY. 



gaged ; but it must be, rather, in search of maggots of the person standing so still and watching them so 



that sometimes breed there, than for the kernel. It intently, every now and then they would stop their 



is said, however, that they lay up a large store of work, cock their heads on one side and regard me for 



nuts for the winter, but as I have never seen them a minute or so. Once I clapped my hands, to see 



collecting them, or found their magazines, I am in- what they would do ; they instantly stopped, ran 



clined very much to doubt the fact. From the great down the tree a little way, and carefully watched me. 



numbers I have opened, at all seasons of the year, I Again I clapped my hands, when, with laughable 



have every reason to believe that ants, small seeds, speed they scuttled back to the nuts, pulled and 



insects and their larva? form their only subsistence, pecked at them with frantic haste, uttering loud 



such matters alone being uniforml}- found in their "quanks" all the while, and finally, having extracted 



stomachs. Neither can I 

 see what necessity they 

 could have to circum- 

 ambulate the trunks of 

 trees with such indefat- 

 igable and restless dil- 

 igence while bushels of 

 nuts lay scattered 

 around their roots." 



This authority of Wil- 

 son's seems to be so far 

 undisputed, for every 

 account of the Nuthatch 

 has been directly quoted 

 from him, as far as I 

 can find out. The fol- 

 lowing personal obser- 

 vations, made this win- 

 ter, will show that his 

 statements are not en- 

 tirely correct, and also 

 how much time and 

 study must be spent up- 

 on these little points be- 

 fore we know what is 

 absolutely certain about 

 them. 



While walking on 

 Davenport's Neck, New 

 Rochelle, in early Feb- 

 ruary, I observed a pair 

 of Nuthatchs fly out of 

 a Hickory tree (to which 

 some old nuts were still 

 clinging,) into a neigh- 

 boring Oak ; I noticed 



AN OSPKEY APPROACHING NEST. 

 (San Cleinente Island, 75 miles off San Diego. Cal. 



PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSEPH GRINNELL. 



che kernels, flew with 

 them into the top of the 

 tree, put them into 

 cracks and then started 

 circling about the tree 

 as if they did not know 

 what a nut looked like. 

 A few days later, while 

 collecting upon "Quak- 

 er Ridge," a high wood- 

 ed district north of New 

 Rochelle, I observed a 

 pair of these birds, each 

 with a nut in its bill, fly 

 into a small dead tree 

 near by. On approach- 

 ing the tree I observed 

 that it was full of holes 

 — not of the same size, 

 lint of different sizes — 

 placed in regular order 

 ill over it. On exam- 

 ining these holes I was 

 surprised to find that 

 most of them contained 

 nuts of different kinds 

 — hickory, chestnut, 

 acorns, beech, and many 

 different kinds of seeds, 

 and what appeared to 

 be a frozen black berry 

 of some sort. During 

 m y observations t h e 

 Nuthatchs came back 

 with two more nuts, 

 but seeing me, became 



that each bird carried a good sized hickory nut in its alarmed, or angry, and flew from tree to tree, utter- 

 bill. On reaching the tree they placed the nuts in ing th'eir harsh notes all the time. Not wishing to 

 convenient crevices, and pushed and wedged them in frighten them away, and having made all the notes I 

 with their bills until they were as firm as if held in a wished, I left them in possession. There seems no 

 vise. Having done this to their satisfaction, they doubt that this tree was a "store-house," or " maga- 

 started a shower of furious blows upon the nuts for zine, " of the sort Wilson tried to find so many years 

 about five minutes, then, as the nuts appeared to be ago. 



drilled, or cracked open, they placed one foot upon It is a well-known fact that Blue Jays, Woodpeck- 



the nut, extracted the contents with their bills and ers and other birds have these stores. In "Bird 



swallowed them with evident relish. Then back to Hall" of the Museum of Natural History is a section 



the Hickory tree they flew, secured two more nuts, of telegraph pole taken at Phoenix, Oregon and used 



came back to the Oak again, and performed the same by the California Woodpecker for the purpose of 



operation ; but soon becoming suspicious, evidently, storing acorns for its winter food. Also in the Smith- 



