66 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
uniformly found in their stomachs. Neither can I see what 
necessity they could have to circumambulate the trunks of trees 
with such indefatigable and restless diligence, while bushels of 
nuts lay scattered round their roots. As to the circumstance 
mentioned by Dr. Plott, of the European Nuthatch ‘ putting its 
bill into a crack in the bough of a tree, and making such a 
violent sound, as if it was rending assunder,’ this, if true, would 
be sufficient to distinguish it from the species we have just been 
describing, which possesses no such faculty. The female differs 
little from the male in color, chiefly in the black being less deep 
on the head and wings.” 
To the above extract I have only to add that it should be 
remembered that Wilson wrote this account in Pennsylvania, 
in the first years of this century, and that further knowledge 
of this bird’s habits may be obtained by studying those of the 
Red-bellied Nuthatch, who leads a very similar life. 
(d). The note of the White-bellied Nuthatch is monotonous, 
unmusical, and yet striking; it differs from that of the next 
species in usually being pitched on a somewhat lower key. 
There is also another note, properly distinct, which is rather 
more subdued, though shriller. This scarcely differs in tone 
from the ordinary cry of the Red-bellied Nuthatch. Both 
sounds are sure to attract the attention of a person who may 
hear them for the first time, and to remain firmly fixed in his 
memory. 
(B) canapensis. Sed-bellied Nuthatch. 
(In Eastern Massachusetts, common in October, and less so 
. in winter and spring.) 
(a). 43-5 inches long. Above, bright ashy or leaden blue. 
Outer tail-feathers black, white-spotted. Beneath, (pale) rusty- 
colored, except on the chin, which is white., In ¢ crown, and 
broad stripe through the eye, black. Intermediate space (and 
forehead), white. In 9 no black cap, and eye-stripe dusky. 
(b). The eggs are exactly like those of the Chickadee (§ 4, 
I, A); and moreover the nest is in many respects like the nest 
of that bird, though sometimes placed in a horizontal limb of 
Se ee 
