116 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, 



necessary food, and will even alight on the ground in quest of seeds. In 

 searching for food among the trees, they move as readily with their heads 

 downward as in any other position. Their motion is a uniform and steady 

 progression, somewliat in the manner of a mouse, but never, like the Wood- 

 ])ecker, by occasional hops. 



The European species collect and store away the fruit of the hazel and 

 other nut-bearing trees. Our bird has been supposed to do the same thing, 

 but this is by no means an indisputable fact. 



In some parts of the country absurd prejudices prevail against these inter- 

 esting little birds. They are indiscriminately confounded with the smaller 

 Woodpeckers, called, with them, Sap-Suckers, and because in the spring and 

 fall they frequent old orchards are most unwisely, as well as unjustly, perse- 

 cuted. They are among the most active and serviceable of the fruit-grower's 

 benefactors. His worst enemies are their favorite food. It is to be hoped 

 that soon a better-informed public opinion will prevail, cherishing and pro- 

 tecting, rather than seeking to destroy, this useful, affectionate, and attractive 

 species. 



Interesting accounts are given in English works of the confiding tameness 

 of the European species. When kindly treated, it will come regularly for 

 its food, approaching within a foot or two of the hand of its benefactor, 

 and catching with its bill the food thrown to it before it can reach the 

 ground. 



The pair work together in constructing the perforation in which they make 

 their nest. When the excavation has been well begun, they relieve each 

 other at the task. The one not engaged in cutting attends upon its mate, 

 and carries out the chips as they are made. These nesting-places are often 

 quite deep, not unfrequently from fifteen to twenty inches. Audubon states 

 that they build no nest, but this does not correspond with my observations. 

 In all the instances that have come to my knowledge, warm and soft nests 

 were found, composed of down, fur, hair, or feathers loosely thrown together, 

 and, though not large in bulk, yet sufficient for a lining for the enlarged 

 cavity that completes their excavation. Soon after they are hatched, the 

 young climb to the opening of the nest to receive their food, and, before 

 they are ready to fly, venture out upon the trunk to try their legs and claws 

 before their wings are prepared for use, retiring at night to their nest. In 

 the Southern States they are said to have two broods in a season. 



The eggs of this Nuthatch measure .80 by .62 of an inch. Their ground- 

 color is white, but when the egg is fresh it has a beautiful roseate tinge, and 

 generally receives an apparently reddish hue from the very general distribu- 

 tion of the spots and blotches of rusty-brown and purplish with which the 

 eggs are so closely covered. These markings vary greatly in size, from fine 

 dots to well-marked blotches. Their color is usually a reddish-brown ; 

 occasionally the markings are largely intermixed with purple. 



