PARID.E — THE TITMICE. 



115 



Sittn acideata. 



brown ; concealed primnries wliite. Bill stout. Female with black of head glossed with 

 ashy. Length about 6 inches ; wing about 3.75. 



Hab. United States and British Provinces ; west to the Valley of the Missouri. 



Habits. The common White-bellied Nuthatch has an extended distribu- 

 tion throughout nearly the whole of Eastern North America, from the Atlan- 

 tic to the Eocky Mountains. West of the great central plains it is replaced 

 by the var. acideata. It has not been 

 met with, so far as I am aware, farther 

 north than Nova Scotia. It is a resi- 

 dent of Eastern Maine, and is quite 

 common in the southern and western 

 portions of the same kState. In Massa- 

 chusetts it is rather connuon than abun- 

 dant, and more plentiful in the western 

 than in the eastern portions of that 

 State. 



The habits of this and the other species 

 of Nuthatches partake somewhat of those 

 of the smaller Woodpeckers and of the 

 Titmice. Without the noisy and restless 

 activity of the latter, they seek their food 



in a similar manner, and not unfrequently do so in their company, moving up 

 or down the trunks and over or under the branches of trees, searching every 

 crack and crevice of the bark for insects, larv?e, or eggs. Like the Woodpeck- 

 ers, they dig industriously into decayed branches for the hidden grub, and like 

 both Woodpeckers and Chickadees they industriously excavate for themselves 

 a place for their nests in the decayed trunks of forest trees. Their nest, how- 

 ever, is usually at a greater elevation, often some twenty or thirty feet from 

 the ground. The European Nuthatch is said to plaster up the entrance 

 to its nest, to contract its opening and lessen the dangers of unfriendly 

 intrusion. This habit has never been observed in any of the American 

 species. 



All our ornithological writers have noticed the assiduities of the male 

 bird to his sitting mate, and tlie attention with wdiichdie supplies her with 

 food. He keeps ever in the vicinity of the nest, calls her from time 

 to time to come to the mouth of the hole to take her food, or else to 

 receive his endearments and caresses, and at the approach of danger 

 fearlessly intervenes to warn her of it. When feeding together, the male 

 bird keeps up his peculiar nasal cry of honk-honh, repeating it from time 

 to time, as he moves around the trunk or over the branches. 



Their favorite food is insects, in every condition. With this, when abun- 

 dant, they seem content, and rarely wander from their accustomed woods in 

 summer. In winter, when snow or ice covers the branches or closes against 

 them the trunks of trees, they seek the dwellings and out-houses for their 



