THE NUTHATCH AND CHICKADEE FAMILY 19 
times dig out a home in a decayed stump for 
themselves. 
It is wonderful to see how easily and quickly 
a nuthatch will run over the trunk and large 
branches of a tree. Woodpeckers usually go 
upward, and brace themselves with their stiff 
tails. If they want to go down, they back down 
rather awkwardly. Creepers, who also go over 
tree trunks, go up only, and they also use their 
stiff tails for a brace. But the nuthatch goes 
head up, or down, or sideways, and never uses 
the short, square tail in the business. He can 
do this because his claws are very curving, al- 
most like hooks, and they grasp tight hold of 
the little rough places in the bark. 
It 1s a funny sight to see a mother nuthatch 
going about with four or five hungry little ones 
after her, like chickens after a hen, all calling 
their droll little “ quanks.” 
The nuthatch gets his name, it is said, from 
the habit of fixing a nut into a crack and ham- 
mering or “hacking ” it till 1t breaks. In sum- 
mer, when insects are to be had, this bird, like 
many others, eats nothing else, and he eats 
thousands of them. But he can live on other 
food, so he is not forced to migrate. 
To provide for winter, when insects will be 
gone and snow cover the seeds, he lays up a 
