OF NEW ENGLAND. 67 
a decayed tree, a situation in which I have never found the 
home of a titmouse. In northern New England the female 
lays about June first, and occasionally again in July. 
(c). The Red-bellied Nuthatches habitually spend the sum- 
mer in the woods and forests of northern New England and 
other rather cold countries, though a few may occasionally 
breed in this State, particularly in the western and well- 
wooded portions. They appear in Massachusetts about the 
first of October, and I have invariably found them quite com- 
mon during that month in the neighborhood of Boston. Many 
retire to the South in November; and those who pass the win- 
ter here may easily escape observation, for they are generally 
silent, often frequent the large tracts of woods which are but 
little penetrated by man in midwinter, and not unfrequently 
almost lose their individuality, so to speak, by joining troops 
of Chickadees. They are by no means rare in April or the 
early part of May, when many pass through in their annual 
spring-migrations. As I have intimated, they are so sociable 
as to associate somewhat with other birds, but they are not 
often gregarious in Massachusetts, and usually are seen singly 
or in pairs, and not in flocks, as they are further north. They 
are more fond of pines than other trees, feeding upon their 
seeds, as well as on the insects about them, and among them 
are to be found, busied in almost every conceivable attitude, 
sometimes moving up and down the trunk, as often with the 
head pointing downward as upward, and at other times scram- 
bling about the branches or the cones. They are not confined, 
however, to trees, for they sometimes climb about fences or 
old buildings, and occasionally descend to the ground, where 
they pick up fallen seeds. In comparing this species with the 
White-breasted, Wilson says that ‘“‘its voice is sharper, and 
its motions much quicker than those of the other, being so 
rapid, restless and small, as to make it a difficult point to shoot 
one of them. When the two species are in the woods together, 
they are easily distinguished by their voices, the note of the 
least being nearly an octave sharper than that of its companion, 
and repeated more hurriedly.” 
