426 NOTES ON THE 



SITTA CANADENSIS (L.). (728.) 



RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



This little cousin of the White-bellied Nuthatch, in no way a 

 whit behind his bigger relative in interest, has its history ob- 

 scured by the shadow of the other to such an extent, that his 

 record begins and ends about where Audubon began and ended it 



While quite similar in its habits to the other species, its note 

 is so much higher-keyed, and more rapidly repeated, that there 

 is little danger of the careful observer being misled as to its 

 identity. It feeds precisely like the other in every particular, 

 beginning upon the trunk or a larger branch, it moves forwards 

 or backwards with equal facility, and uniformly in a spiral di- 

 rection. If on the trunk, the prevalent attitude is with the 

 head downward, in which attitude it will frequently pause for 

 a moment, and with the bill at right angles to its perch, listen 

 to other notes and sounds, and then resume its search for in- 

 sects and larvae, constantly repeating its note resembling 

 'each, each, each each,'' rapidly repeated until it opens its wings 

 for a short flight to another tree already preoccupied possibly 

 by the large species, the Hairy Woodpecker, and the Chick- 

 adee. In this manner the party proceeds "regularly from tree 

 to tree through the woods like a corps of pioneers." Mr. Grant 

 reports them as fairly represented about Vermilion lake and 

 vicinity during the summers he was there. 



Messrs. Lewis, Treganowan and Washburn, each report this 

 species fairly represented in all the timbered sections visited 

 by them in the northwestern portions, and the latter mentions 

 them in the following words: "Young and old birds observed 

 at St. Vincent, common, and apparently finding there its 

 southern limit. I did not find it south of that place. One indi- 

 vidual, shot at St. Vincent Aug. 26th, measured 4.25; 2.50; 1.50; 

 and another, 4.25; 2.75; 1.50." 



There is no doubt that the Red-breasted Nuthatch breeds 

 extensively' in the northern portion of Minnesota, but I have 

 never discovered their nests in the others. Mr. Lewis, (who 

 gave the habits of this species as much if not more attention 

 than any other observer whose kindly aid I have received, ) 

 says: "The nest is in an excavation In a stump, or a stub, 

 from three to four feet from the ground, and occasionally 

 somewhat higher, but never as elevated as that of the White- 

 breasted. It consists of moss, bark, hair and down, rather 



