THE OOLOGIST. 



153 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



(Sitta canadensis). 



By W. H. MOORE. 



Were our birds classified as are 

 plants, according to their abilities to 

 withstand the inclemency of our 

 northern climate, the subject of the 

 following sketch would rank as a 

 hardy perennial among the avi-fauna 

 of Eastern Canada. 



Although not a bird having a well- 

 developed song as do some of our win- 

 ter birds, its voice is nevertheless 

 well cultivated along certain lines. 

 The ordinary notes sound like yank 

 or kngak, and when head at some dis- 

 tance, are suggestive of loneliness. 

 There are some sweet twitterings ut- 

 tered incessantly when the individ- 

 uals of a family are foraging among 

 tree tops. A noticeable flow of talk 

 is poured forth as the mated birds 

 are investigating and deciding upon 

 a nesting site. 



The search for the location of the 

 nest apparently begins in the month 

 of March. The yanking abilities are 

 then taxed to a great extent, the birds 

 being known to utter that call unin- 

 termittently for over half a minute. 

 After the site is exactly decided up- 

 on, and work begun, the calling of 

 the birds ceases to a great extent. 



The nesting site is chosen in some 

 decayed tree trunk, preferably that of 

 a conifer, the second choice being 

 white or soft mapel. The birds un- 

 doubtedly understand the method of 

 decay in trees, as the above species 

 of trees seem to decay most near the 

 heart, and are more easily chipped out 

 than trunks that are decayed upon 

 the outside and sounder toward the 

 center. Thus, when the bark is 

 pierced, the hardest of the mining is 

 accomplished. Yet their work is of- 



ten in vain, as they sometimes come 

 upon knots in the wood; these they 

 are unable to chip out, and they are 

 obliged to choose a new site. In such 

 instances, they evidently occupy a 

 nest of the previous year, either one 

 of their own species or that of a small 

 woodpecker, as the female would be 

 ready to lay the eggs before a new 

 nest could be excavated. The length 

 of time occupied in nest making is 

 from two weeks to two months. 



In one instance when the birds lo- 

 cated in a dead maple trunk set up 

 for them within a few feet of our own 

 house, the birds worked alternately 

 at mining or excavating the hole in 

 which the nest proper was placed. 

 The length of time one would work 

 varied from a few minutes to thirty. 

 Then it would call a few times, and 

 the mate would appear upon the 

 scene and take a shift at the work. 

 Toward the last of the mining oper- 

 ations the male performed that work 

 and the female was busily engaged in 

 collecting material for the nest. This 

 consisted of fine shreds of cedar bark, 

 other fibrous material, hair and a 

 few small feathers, and the whole was 

 well fitted together. 



The excavation had been enlarged 

 to satisfactory dimensions, which 

 were as follows: entrance oval, one 

 inch by 1 1-8 in diameter, lead- 

 ing inward an inch and one-quarter 

 on lower side, then downward six 

 inches and enlarged to nearly four 

 inches across for half the lower tun- 

 nel. 



The next cavity measured one and 

 one-half inch in diameter and depth. 

 All chinks and cracks within the ex- 

 cavation, if they lead to the outside, 

 are tightly caulked with fibrous ma- 

 terial of the same composition as the 

 nest. 



Before the female had completed 

 the nest, the male began carrying fir 



