OF NEW ENGLAND. 65 
he moves upward and down, in spiral circles, around the body 
and larger branches of the tree, probing behind the thin scaly 
bark of the white oak, and shelling off considerable pieces of 
it in his search after spiders, ants, insects and their larve. He 
rests and roosts with his head downwards; and appears to 
possess a degree of curiosity not common in many birds; fre- 
quently descending, very silently, within a few feet of the 
root of the tree where you happen to stand, stopping, head 
downward, stretching out his neck in a horizontal position, as 
if to reconnoitre your appearance, and after several minutes of 
silent observation, wheeling around, he again mounts, with fresh 
activity, piping his unisons as before. Strongly attached to, 
his native forests he seldom forsakes them; and amidst the 
rigors of the severest winter weather, his note is still heard 
in the bleak and leafless woods, and among the howling 
branches. Sometimes the rain, freezing as it falls, encloses 
every twig, and even the trunk of the tree, in a hard trans- 
parent coat or shell of ice. On these occasions I have ob- 
served his anxiety and dissatisfaction, at being with difficulty 
able to make his way along the smooth surface; at these times 
generally abandoning the trees, gleaning about the stables, 
around the house, mixing among the fowls, entering the barn, 
and examining the beams and rafters, and every place where 
he may pick up a subsistence. 
“The name Nuthatch has been bestowed on this family of 
birds from their supposed practice of breaking nuts by repeated 
hatchings, or hammerings with their bills. Soft shelled nuts, 
such as chestnuts, chinkapins, and hazel nuts, they may prob- 
ably be able to demolish, though I have never yet seen them so 
engaged; but it must be rather in search of maggots that 
sometimes breed there, than for the kernel. It is, however, said 
that they lay up a large store of nuts for winter; but as I have 
never either found any of their magazines, or seen them col- 
lecting them, I am inclined to doubt the fact. From the great 
numbers I have opened at all seasons of the year, I have every 
reason to believe that ants, bugs, small seeds, insects and their 
larvee, form their chief subsistence, such matters alone being 
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