Slogilti 





FEBRUARY, 1881. 



^ 



No. 12. 



The Red-bellied Nuthatch in its 

 Home. 



Our raft, having been carried over the 

 shallow places by the stoi-ni of the night 

 before, had become stranded upon the 

 rocks, whei'e we found it high and dry. 

 It had lain in the water some time pre- 

 vious to our arrival in the Adirondacks, 

 and had become so heavy tliat it was no 

 small task for three of us to dislodge it. 

 We worked under many disadvantages, 

 one of which was that we were obliged 

 to stand in the water, and instantly be- 

 come covered with scores of hungry 

 leeches ; while the mosquitoes and savage 

 black files tormented us almost to dis- 

 traction. Although we started from 

 the camp quite early, it was nearly ten 

 o'clock when we put our guns and col- 

 lecting boxes upon the raft, pre|)aratory 

 to a day's work among the birds ; and 

 progress being slow with this proverb- 

 ially clumsy means of navigation, we 

 lost most of the morning in poling and 

 paddling to our landing point. Having 

 arrived in a little shallow bay, overhung 

 with low drooping branches of the 

 swamp alder, which everywhere l)or- 

 dered the flat edges of the still water in 

 almost impenetrable density, we drew 

 one corner of the raft u])on a large 

 stone to keep it from breaking away 

 from the shore, and pushed through the 

 brief labyrinth of l>uslies to the open 

 space beyond, whither we exj>ected to 

 find a fairly well-beaten bark-road. 



The moment we emefged from the 

 bushes, we heard the low, apparently 

 strained note of a Nuthatch. For two 

 or three days we had been searching for 



the smaller, red-bellied species, certain 

 that it was to be found in these wilds ; 

 but, though we were positive that we 

 had heard its note a few times, the bird 

 had kej>t well out of sight. Our list of 

 species, which we had expected to find 

 probably occurring here, was nearly 

 completed by the corroborative evidence 

 of specimens seen and taken, but Sitta 

 canadensis had, thus far, eluded us. 

 Our desire, therefore, to see this bird in 

 its native haunt, impelled us to search 

 especially for it, and when we had heard 

 and apparently located the note, we 

 quite eagerly set off in the direction 

 from which we supposed it came. The 

 note of this species, as we presently 

 learned, was' very deceptive, and we 

 carefully hurried in several directions, 

 then stopped and listened, the mean- 

 while casting our eyes upon the trees in 

 search of the little tormentor, without 

 at first being able to ascertain where it 

 was. We at length discovered it sitting 

 perfectly still upon the horizontal limb 

 of a dead tamarack, not more than six 

 or eight feet above the ground, and not 

 a dozen paces from our landing place, 

 quite busy in preening its feathers. Be- 

 ing well shielded from view it did not 

 discover us, and we were at liberty to 

 watch it without being observed. Now 

 and then, in the midst of, its occupation, 

 it would distend its throat and utter the 

 note we had often heard before. This 

 differed quite perceptibly from that of 

 its White-bellied relative, being less vol- 

 uminous, not so short, and uttered with 

 a seeming deal of labor. It was com- 

 posed of two or three slightly prolonged 

 n<jtes, while that of S. carolinensis is 



