158 



THE OOLOGIST. 



worked in about the same way, tliough 

 some of thoiii wedged theif luits far 

 into craeks or holes in the body of the 

 tree, insteatl of in the bark. One of 

 them pounded so hard he spread his 

 tail and almost upset himself. The fun 

 was so great a Downy Woodpecker 

 tried it, and of all the big school boj's! 

 The excitement seemed to turn his 

 head, and he attacked a beechnut burr 

 as if he Avould close Avith it in mortal 

 combat! 



Though without any real song, the 

 Nuthatch has a delightful variety of 

 notes. In May his niisal he7ik-a, henk- 

 a, henk-a, comes through the soft green 

 woods as a peculiarly peaceful caress- 

 ing note, and his soft yang, yang, yang. 

 is full of woodsy suggestions. In the 

 last of June I noted the sweet yah-ha of 

 the Nuthatch, tlie same y(tng, ynng, 

 yang, and his nearest approacii to a 

 song, the x'apid yah-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha. In 

 August and September the nasal yank 

 is sometimes run into an accelerated 

 half song. Thoreau gives the ordinary 

 winter note as quah, quah, and while 

 that expresses the mellowness of the 

 note on some days better than y(nik, 

 they are both descriptive. But though 

 certain notes may predominate in given 

 months, on a cold January morning I 

 have heard from a flock of Nutliatches 

 every note that I had;ever heard before 

 at any time of the year. 



Like tlie other mejDbers of the quar- 

 tette, the Nuthatch nests in holes in 

 trees or stumps, while its lightly spot- 

 ted eggs, six or eight in number, are 

 laid on a soft, felty lining. 



I am often surprised by discovering 

 the Nuthatch at work in places where I 

 despair of finding any birds. One day 

 in December the snow-orjvered woods 

 seemed to have fallen into the silent 

 slumber of a child. Not a breath came 

 to blow the white cap from the Vireo's 

 nest, or scatter the heaped-up snow 

 that rested like foam on the slender 

 twigs. The snow that had drifted 



against tlie siib; of the tree trunks 

 clung as it had fallen. In silence the 

 branches arched under their freight; 

 the rich ochraceous beech leaves hung 

 in nuisses under the snow — not a leaf 

 rustled. 



Overhead the twigs, snow-outlined, 

 made exquisite filigree against the pale 

 blue sky. But suddenly, as the woods 

 seemed to be holding its breatli, the 

 yank of the Nuthatch came first ftom 

 one tree and then another. A family 

 of them were looking for their dinner 

 in the white forest. If the snow 

 covered the upper side of a branch, 

 thej' ran along upside-down on the 

 under side; if the south side of a tree 

 trunk was white, they walked, head 

 down, on the north side; and there, too, 

 was tlie little drummer — a Downy 

 Woodpecker, flickering from tree to 

 tree — even here, the merry band was 

 finding a place for itself in nature. As 

 I passed on, fainter and fainter came 

 the note of the Nuthatch. I looked 

 back through the woods; the blue sky 

 was veiled by snow clouds, but behind 

 them shone the southern sun, pervad- 

 ing them with that wondrous radiance 

 of white light that onlj- a winter sky 

 can show. 



Two Instances of Strange Co-habitation— 

 Wood Thrush and White-eyed Vireo. 



While on a collecting trip a short 

 time ago, a little incident came under 

 my notice which I thought might possi- 

 l)ly be of enough interest to the readers 

 of The Oologist to publish. 



On June 21.st, I found a nest of the 

 Wood Thrush, noticing, in the nest, a 

 very large egg for this species. (Size 

 l.lOx.81.) I took it, leaving two in 

 the nest. I thought no more about it 

 until three days after when, as I was 

 going by the place, happening to re- 

 member the nest, I went to look at it. 

 What was my surprise on nearing the 

 bush, to see a strange small head i>eep. 



