570 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TOSEMITE 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch probably nests as a rule well up in the 

 trees at about the level at which the birds spend most of their time. On 

 June 14, 1915, near Chinquapin, the mobbing of two Blue-fronted Jays 

 by a pair of nuthatches led to the discovery of the latter 's nest site. After 

 the jays had quit the vicinity one of the nuthatches was seen to enter a 

 little round hole in the trunk of a slender and very brittle, dead silver 

 fir. Since the hole was about fifty feet above the ground, the tenants were 

 perfectly safe there from any human intrusion. 



Of the nuthatches collected during June, 1915, males predominated, 

 a fact which would suggest that at this season the females were engaged 

 in incubation or in caring for the young. On August 3, 1920, at Smith 

 Creek, 6 miles east of Coulterville, a juvenal bird which was molting into 

 the first winter plumage was taken. The birds collected in August, 1915, 

 at Merced Lake and on Mount Clark (at 8800 feet) were all immatiires 

 of the current season ; probably the adults were molting and so, as is often 

 the case with birds at that season, were keeping themselves in seclusion. 



Once a Red-breasted Nuthatch fell victim to a mouse trap, baited with 

 rolled oats, which had been set beside a log in the forest. Whether the 

 bird had sought the material as food (for some nuthatches do take nuts 

 and seeds) or whether it was led to investigate the trap out of curiosity 

 was not evident. All nuthatches have a more or less well marked trait of 

 curiosity, as have their relatives, the tits and chickadees. 



The flight of the Red-breasted Nuthatch is slow and hesitating, the 

 wings beating a few rapid strokes and then being held closed for a short 

 interval. Perhaps this peculiarity of flight is due partly to the extreme 

 shortness of the tail (fig. 58&). The shortness of the tail is a striking 

 feature of the silhouette of the bird in flight. 



But little seems to be know^n concerning the food habits of this species. 

 Its regular patrol of the bark of trunks and branches of trees probably 

 means that insects and their eggs and larvae contribute extensively to 

 the diet of the bird. A freshly captured bird gives off a curious odor quite 

 distinctive of the species, possibly due to its regularly feeding upon some 

 particular sort of insect. 



At Aspen Valley one day in October one of these nuthatches was 

 watched as it came down to drink. The bird descended from the trees 

 to the vertical surface of a rock about three feet above the water and then 

 by short flights moved to a twig two inches above a little pool. There it 

 leaned down and drank ten or twelve sips at intervals of three or four 

 seconds. Its bill was in the water less than a second for each drink; 

 the rest of the time the bird spent in looking cautiously about. At this 

 same locality a Red-breasted Nuthatch came several times to a white fir 

 near our camp and drank some of the sap which was oozing from a gash 

 in the bark near the base of the tree. 



