THE SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCH. 289 



ially oil the main irunk route. He pries under bark-scales and lichens, peers 

 into crevices and explores cavities in his search for tiny insects, larvje, and 

 insects' eggs, especially the latter. The value of the service which this bird 

 and his associates perform for the horticulturist is simply incalculable. There 

 should be as heavy a penalty imposed upon one who wantonly kills a Nuthatch 

 or a Chickadee, as upon one who enters an enclosure and cuts down an 

 orchard or a shade tree. 



The Nuthatch has a variety of notes, all distinguished by a peculiar nasal 

 (|uality. When hunting with the troop he gives an occasional softly resonant 

 tut or tut-tut, as if to remind his fellows that all's well. The halloo note is 

 more decided, tin, pronounced a la francaise. By means of this note and by 

 using it in combination, they seem to be able to carry on quite an animated 

 conversation, calling across from tree to tree. During the inating season, 

 and often at other times, they have an even more decided and distinctive note, 

 quonk, qiionk, quonk, or ho-onk, ho-onk, in moderate pitch, and with deliber- 

 ation. They have also a sort of trumpeting song, but this is rarely heard in 

 Washington : and, indeed, all the notes of the Slender-billed Nuthatch have 

 a softened and subdued character as compared with those of the eastern bird, 

 typical S. caroliiuiisis. 



The nest of this Nuthatch is placed in a cavity carefully chiselled out, 

 usually at a considerable height, in a pine stub, dead fir, or Cottonwood. Both 

 sexes share the labor of excavation, and when the cavity is somewhat deep- 

 ened one bird removes the chips while the other delves. Like all the hole- 

 nesting species of this family, but unlike the Woodpeckers, the Nuthatches 

 provide for their home an abundant lining of moss, fur, feathers, and the like. 

 This precaution is justified fmni the fact that they are early nesters — com- 

 plete sets of eggs being found \v> later than the second week in April. 



The male is a devoted husband and father, feeding the female incessantly 

 during incubation, and sharing with her in the care of the large family long 

 after many birds have forgotten their young. The young birds early learn 

 to creej) up to the mouth of the nesting hole to receive food when their turn 

 comes; and they are said to crawl al)out the jiarcnlal tree for some days 

 before they attempt flight. 



The Slender-billed Nuthatch is of rare occurrence west of the Cascades, 

 being chiefly confined to the wooded edges of the prairies. Li the eastern 

 half of the State it may be rare locally but increases in abt^ndance in tlio north- 

 eastern section, \\1ierever found, this bird associates freely with llie related 

 species and is esjiecially fond of the society of the Pygmies. A winter bird 

 troop encountered near Spokane included, beside a half dozen Slender-bills, 

 as many Red-breasted Nuthatches, a score of Pygmies, a dozen Mountain 

 Chickadees, four or five Batchelder W^oodpeckers, a few Clark Nutcrackers, 

 and twentv Red-sh;ifled Klickcrs. 



