THE SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCH. _ 287 
robbed by the blue-coated thug. One such tragedy, with its human interest, 
is reported for us by Miss Adelaide L. Pollock, the well-known bird-lover 
of Seattle, as follows: 
“We found the long purse-shaped nest swinging from the lower branches 
of a giant red fir July 8th, and every day thereafter for two weeks some 
member of our class 1n ornithology visited the castle in the air. It was woven 
with a silken foundation gleaned in the cobwebs of the forest, lined with the 
pappus of the willow and the thistle, and chinked with moss, lichen, and faded 
hazel blossoms. With an eye to man-fashion, the architects had papered the 
home, but only in spots on the outside. What a delight it was to watch the 
parent birds light on the doorstep with a worm and plunge inside. By the 
wriggling and swaying of the nest we knew there was something doing there, 
but we had to guess at the gaping mouths. July 17th was a dreadful day for 
the nestlings. We heard the pitiful notes of birds in distress as we approached 
and found the nest was gone. Searching the ground it appeared with a great 
gaping hole in one side, which told of the work of jay, crow, or chipmunk. 
On investigation a tiny dead bunch of feathers was drawn out; and then 
something moved. The nest was tied to a hazel branch and quick as a thought 
the parents went in at the front and out at the new back door. Gaining 
courage they tried again, this time with food, and within the hour had appar- 
ently forgotten their tragedy and settled down with the one wee chick. While 
the parents were foraging we opened the slit and the way that baby bird 
turned tail-up and buried its head in the lining of the nest reminded us of 
the ostrich. ° 
“July 20th we saw the youngster scramble up the sides of his home to 
the doorway, where he perched blinking his round brown eyes at us. He 
seemed to enjoy having his throat and back scratched and did not resent our 
presence, but his parents did, for the nest was deserted at sundown of July 
22d after a long visit from the class in the afternoon. Yet the tiny fledgling 
could scarcely leap from twig to twig of the tangled undergrowth into which 
he disappeared. Two days later we fancied we recognized the same family 
by a peculiar white iris of one parent bird, as they flitted from branch to 
branch of an alder forty feet above the ground.” 
No. 11t. 
SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCH. 
A. O. U. No. 727a. Sitta carolinensis aculeata (Cassin). 
Description —4dult male: Top of head, nape and upper boundary of back 
shining black, with a slight greenish reflection; remaining upperparts ashy blue; 
