NUTHATCHES 601 



seasons they prefer the woods, forming roving bands and 

 groups with the Kinglets, Chickadees and their allies. Like 

 the White-breasted Nuthatch the species in question seeks its 

 food on the trunks and limbs of trees, assuming all kinds of 

 postures and attitudes, head up or down, on top or under a 

 limb and in general acting much the same. 



I have quite good reasons for believing that they remain 

 mated for more than one season and that mated birds remain 

 in each others company all the year, rarely associating with 

 others in flocks, while it is the young birds of the year, as yet 

 unmated, that mingle in flocks with others of their kind as 

 well as related species. Their food consists of about the same 

 run of insects' eggs, insects and larvae as is eaten by the White- 

 breasted species. They greatly relish the seeds of fir, spruce, 

 and pine and in winter can generally be found feeding in a 

 region where trees of these species have seeded abundantly the 

 past season. They deftly pry open the scales of the cones, 

 insert their bills and obtain the seed. Maple seed are some- 

 times eaten by them. They will also eat bits of rotten apple, 

 suck sap from the bleeding stumps of trees, take their share of 

 bits of suet or meat exposed and on a pinch eat seed of dock 

 and other weeds which protrude above the snow. 



At all seasons these birds are very noisy, their presence being 

 denoted by frequent nasal calls of "ank, ank, ank, ank, ank" 

 sometimes "yank, or yank-yank" or again "yeh, yeh, yeh, 

 yeh, yeh" or "it, it, it, it, it, it" uttered seemingly in the same 

 tantalizing manner with which a small boy often mocks a 

 companion. The call uttered by the male in the breeding 

 season is a more prolonged "yeait, yeait, yeait" repeated 

 several times and answered by short notes from the female. 

 During the nesting season the nest can often be located by 

 tracing up these calls, and by carefully watching the bird 

 uttering them. 



The nest is placed in a hole which is nearly always excav- 

 ated by the birds themselves in a dead stub. While almost 



