424 NOTES ON THE 



The food consists chiefly of coleopterous insects, with an oc- 

 casional seed intermixed. He builds his nest much after the 

 manner of the wrens, in any available place like a hollow limb 

 or trunk of a tree — in the hollow of a tall stub— or beneath 

 a depending piece of bark on the side of a dead tree. 



Five or six roseate-white eggs, delicately marked with 

 brown, are laid about the 20th of May. 



This species is rather common a short time during migration, 

 and a few remain all summer, but they mainly go beyond the 

 limits of our territory to breed. In a very carefully prepared 

 list of birds observed at Vermilion lake by U. S. Grant, who 

 accompanied Prof. Winchell in his geological explorations of 

 St. Louis county, he saw but one individual, but at a season 

 which justifies the presumption of its breeding in that region. 

 In most wooded sections an occasional individual has been seen 

 at a time when it is entirely reasonable to suppose them sum- 

 mer residents. 



Mr. Washburn believes it "rare in Otter Tail county.'' Its 

 habits are such that they may easily be overlooked, and I still 

 cherish the opinion that it has not yet received its proper credit. j 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill about length of head. Above dark-brown with a slight 

 rufous shade, each feather streaked centrally but not abruptly 

 with whitish; rump rusty; beneath almost silky white; under 

 tail coverts with a faint rusty tinge; a white streak over the 

 eye; ear coverts streaked with whitish. Tail feathers brown 

 centrally, the edges pale yellowish-brown; wings with a trans- 

 verse bar of pale reddish-white across both webs. 



Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.90. 



Habitat, North America generally. 



Family PARID^. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS Latham. (727.) 

 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 

 The White-bellied Nuthatch is a permanent resident of Min- 

 nesota, breeding, frequently, within the limits of the city as 

 well as in forests remote from dwellings. The nests are 

 usually found in cavities in trees much after the manner of 

 woodpeckers, and consist of fine grasses, feathers and hairs 

 which are lightly disposed in the bottom of the cavity selected. 

 They almost uniformly lay six eggs which are white with a 

 faint roseate tint, spattered with dots and splashes of pale 

 reddish-brown. 



