WIIITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



659 



twt'iitj ieL't iil)()vi; the gi'ouiMl. The tree had evidently been used ats a nesting place fur 

 some time, for there were several other openings which had, in all probability, been occu- 

 pied in previous years. The female is ver}' unsuspicious while incubating, or her affections 

 for her eggs overcome her fears, for she will permit herself to be handled at such times 

 without attempting to escape. Mr. Brewster having discovered a nest in a partly 

 decayed apple tree, enlarged the entrance, that he might introduce his hand, and remove 

 the bird. She struggled vigorously to escape but, as soon as she was liberated, returned 

 to her eggs. She was taken out several times but invariably entered her donucile the 

 moment she gained her freedom. Even when thrown into the air she did not Hy away, 

 and when Mr. Brewster went away slie was on the nest. Tliis species usually construct 

 their edifice in dead trees or stubs, hut my friend, Mr. Harold Herrick, of New York, in- 

 formed me that he knew of a ])air wliich built their nest in tlie walls of an inhabited 

 dwelling, having found an entrance tiu'ough a knot hole in a clapl)oard, which was situated 

 beneath the eaves. The White-bellied Nuthatches are constant residents in New Eng- 

 land. Those which go south migrate quite early in the season, generally during the 

 latter part of October. On the 30th of this month I was on a .steamer bound for Savannah 

 and when fifty miles off the coast of Virginia we were visited by a male of this species. 

 He alighted on the deck at first apparently exhausted but, after resting a short time, re- 

 covered, when he commenced climbing about the rigging and running up and down the 

 masts in search of food performing his gymnastic feats with as much agility as in his native 

 woods; he remained on board until night but I could n(jt find him the next morning. 

 Their food consists principally of insects but they will sometimes eat acorns. 



On September 25th. , a White-bellied Nuthatcli was brought to me, with an acorn 

 shell attatched to its beak, that had evidently been the cause of its death. The kernel 



of the acorn had been removed, probal)ly through the 

 agency of a squirrel, and the shell had become quite 

 dry, and consetpientl}- hard and horny. The rodent 

 in manipulating the nut had gnawed a hole in both 

 sides, and the orifice on one side chanced to be broken 

 in a peculiar manner. Directly' in the center of the 

 upper portion of the acorn, and consequentl\- in the, 

 center of the orifice, for this was about in the middle 

 a spur of shell projected downward, (see Fig. 110 ) 

 lave given a view of the acorn shell, top down, and the projection may be seen 



#^. 



% ill V 



Fig. 110. 



where I 

 at c. 



Now this simple shell lying on the ground or lodged on the limb of a tree, must have 

 been an innocent looking object, yet it proved as fatal to this Nuthatch as would have 

 been a charge of dust shot. It is probable that either s(mie insect had found a lodging in 

 the empty shell or that some bits of the kernel remained. It is most likely that the insect 

 was there, at all events, something induced tlu; bird to thrust its bill into the cavity. It 

 must have uone further in than the Nuthatch intended, passing completely through so 



