6o NESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



liberated, returned to her eggs. She was taken out several 

 times but invariably entered her domicile the moment she 

 regained her freedom. Even when thrown into the air she did 

 not fly away, and when Mr. Brewster went away she was on 

 the nest. Before able to fl}^ the young crawl out of the nest, 

 and take lessons on the tree-trunk, returning to the parental 

 roof at niglit. In the southern states thev are said to raise 

 two liroods in a season. 



Varietv ACULEATA, No. 38 «. the Slender-billed Nuthatch, 

 is the vv'estern representative of the eastern form, replacing it 

 beyond the Missouri river. Its nidification does not var\' from 

 the tvpe. as it builds in holes of trees (at inaccessible heights, 

 ]3r. ]. K. Lord said), constructing a shallow nest of vegetable 

 substances, lined with hair or feathers. The live or six eggs, 

 laid early in June, are not diOerent from eastern examples. 



39. THE RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



SITTA CANADENSIS Linn. 



Canada Nuthatch. 



An inhabitant at one season or another of the wooded portions 

 oi nearly all A\rrth America., breeding preferably where conif- 

 erous trees prevail, especially in the west, and frequenting 

 higher latitudes (or altitudes) in summei', than at other seasons 

 when it is partially migratory or nomadic. 



I will give two iiis;tances of its nesting in widely separated 

 legions ; the lirst is tVom Audubon : 



I found it building its nest near Eastport, in Maine, on the 19th of 

 Mav, before the bluebird had made its appearance there, and while 

 much ice still remained on the northern exposures. The nest is dug in 

 a low. dead stump, seldom more than four feet from the ground ; both 

 the male and female working by turns until thej have got to the depth 

 of about fourteen inches. The eggs, four in number, are small, and of 

 a white color, tinged with a deep blush, and sprinkled with reddish dots. 

 They raise, I believe, only one brood in the season. 



The other account is by Mr. Henshaw : 



In the pine woods near Fort Garland, southern Colorado, I found it 



