WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 399 



have occasionally seen them mixed up with a small band composed of 

 Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Golden-crowned 

 Kinglets. These birds seem to find pleasure in each other's society, 

 when they are spending the short, sharp days of winter in some 

 sheltered patch of evergreens. 



Family PARID^. Nuthatches and Tits. 

 Subfamily SITTING. Nuthatches. 



Genus SITTA Linnaeus. 

 SITTA CAROLINENSIS (Lath.). 



303. White-breasted Nuthatch. (727) 



Back, rump ami middle tail feathers, ashy-blue; crown and nape, glossy 

 black, restricted or wanting in the young and many females ; tail, except as 

 above, black, spotted with white; beneath and sides of head, white; flanks and 

 under tail coverts, rusty-brown ; wings varied, black, blue and white. Length, 

 6 ; wing, 3i ; tail, 2. 



Hab. — Southern British Provinces and Eastern United States to the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Nest, a hole in a tree, sometimes a natural cavity, or again dug by the birds 

 with great labor, lined with hair and feathers. 



Eggs, six to eight, white, spotted thickly with reddish-brown. 



This is one of the few birds which remain with us summer and 

 winter. It is quite a common species, well known to all who have 

 occasion to be in the woods in spring, when it is seen climbing 

 nimbly about, or hanging head downwards on the bark of a tree. 

 In the winter time the country lads who are chopping in the bush 

 listen with pleasure to its familiar quank, quank, which is often the 

 only evidence of animal life observed. As a climber, it has few 

 equals, its long hind claw enabling it to travel head downwards, a 

 feat which even the Woodpeckers do not attempt. Its food consists 

 chiefly of insects, which it finds lurking in the crevices of the bark. 

 It is also said to hide away nuts and acorns in the holes of trees, a 

 habit which may have suggested its name. 



It is rather more southern in its habitat than its Red-breasted 

 relative. Mr. White reports it as resident at Ottawa, and we find 

 it so along our southern border, but it is not named among the 

 birds of Manitoba, from which we infer that it is not found in 

 that Province. 



