THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 
Thru the intermittent quanking of a pair of these birds, my attention was 
directed to a couple of tall dead fir trees near the center of a woods, then 
known as the Puget Mill strip, but now as Moore’s University Park Addition 
to Seattle. A little lazy scrutiny descried the birds, mere twinkling bits of 
blue-gray, about one hundred and twenty-five feet up; and two or three mys- 
terious disappearances established a suspicion that they were interested in a 
certain section of one of the trees. The suspicion received strong confirma- 
tion when, after a longer disappearance than usual on the part of the Red- 
breasts, a Harris 
Woodpecker alight- 
ed further up in the 
Sa mnessitw bs eline 
Nuthatches immedi- 
ately swarmed out 
and set upon the 
Harris with vigor 
and language. The 
Woodpecker was dis- 
posed to stand his 
ground, whereat the 
Nuthatches became 
highly enraged and 
charged upon the in- 
truder so vigorously 
that the poor fellow 
was obliged to dodge 
about his chosen limb 
in lively fashion. 
The Hatches cried 
nya nyd nyd as fast 
as they could get 
breath, and flirted 
their wings between 
whiles to vent their 
outraged feelings. 
Harris naturally de- 
cided before long 
that the game wasn’t 
worth the bother. 
Time and again 
Taken in Pierce County. Photo by the Author. ‘ 
the little fellows flew 
A TYPICAL NESTING SITE OF THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 
AN OAK TREE (QUERCUS GARRYANA) AT THE BORDER OF THE PRAIRIE. across to a live fir 
