62 A'ESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



posed to be the result of a gradual accumulation from the feet of 

 the parents who must alight there, with feet smeared from con- 

 star.t walking on the trunks of the gummy conifers, very many 

 times a day. Such accumulations may pro^•e useful as a guide to 

 the eye in searching for the nests of this nuthatch in pine-wood 

 regions. 



Since the last paragraph was in type, I have seen a conllr- 

 mation of its facts in an excellent communication to the Nut- 

 tall Clul)'s liulletin (Vol. III. p. 196) by Mr. :slanlv Hard\- 

 ot Urewcr. Me. Mr. Hardy seems not to l)elieve. howe\ er, 

 that the pitch is an accidental accumulation. "I think that 

 more nests would be found " he reiuarks. "if peojjle did not 

 mistake them for holes of the downy woodpecker, which are 

 oi the same size, though rounder. .Vudubon speaks of their be- 

 ing placed four feet from the ground ; but w hile this is some- 

 times the case, they are oftener ten to tifteen feet from the 

 ground. It is easy to tell even an old nest from that of either 

 a down}- woodpecker or black-capped titmouse, as the wood- 

 pecker lays directly upon tine chips, without any nest, and the 

 titmouse makes a nice nest of fur and feathers, and neither 

 place any pitch round the holes, while the nuthatch makes its 

 nest of short tine grass and protects with pitch outside the 

 hole." 



40. THE BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 

 SITTA PUSILLA Latham. 



A bird ot the souther)/ states, and mainly conJined to the 

 pine regions. In Florida, it begins nesting in February, but 

 Mr. N. C. Brown was unable to get eggs in central Alabama 

 betore April 23. Starting thus earl\-, the bird is able to raise 

 two or three broods in a season. The nest is usually excavated 

 by the birds themselves in a rotten stub or dead tree at varying 

 heights, but, as a rule, low down. Both sexes work together with 

 great diligence, it is said, carrvingthe chips to some distance be- 

 fore dropping them. It takes them a good while to complete the 

 ciivity, and s<j ardent and unsuspicious are they while at work, 



