WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



because then he approaches civiHzed Hfe, while 

 in summer he retires to the remote woods to rear 

 his brood, is the famiHar nuthatch, whose pecuhar 

 nee-nee-nee — the most indifferent, don't-care-a-bit 

 utterance in the world — is heard from every other 

 tree-trunk. Like the brown creeper, the nuthatches 

 seek their food on the boles of trees, examining 

 every part by a spiral survey — a sort of triangula- 

 tion — and are not content till the top is reached, 

 when they dive straight to the roots of the next 

 tree, and begin a new exploration. There is no 

 time wasted by these little engineers in foolish 

 flying about or profitless research. Not allowing 

 a cranny to go untouched, they drag out every un- 

 happy grub it shelters before raiding the next hid- 

 ing-place of insect life. Their feet are broad and 

 strong for clinging ; their bills are small pick-axes, 

 their tongues harpoons, and their brains marine 

 clocks, just as steady one side up as another. 



Thus they are able to search out the injurious 

 borers and the like which pass through their met- 

 amorphoses beneath the bark; and, except when 

 everything is incased in ice, do not eat seed, or 

 even alight on the ground. They are among 

 the most active and serviceable of the fruit-grower's 

 benefactors, continuing, during the cold months, 



60 



