36 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



barn-yards and stables." That was sixty years ago. 

 Now the stables are as trees to the birds, and out of 

 necessity, for sometimes there are more buildings 

 than trees. To me these birds seem equally at home 

 in any locality, and have but the one thought, a 

 sufficient food-supply. It is quite evident that the 

 general deforesting of the country has brought about 

 a material change of habits, especially in what we 

 might call strictly arboreal birds. 



Speaking of the red-bellied nuthatch, Wilson re- 

 marks as follows : 



" This bird is particularly fond of the seeds of pine-trees. You 

 may traverse many thousand acres of oak, hickory, and chestnut 

 woods during winter without meeting with a single individual ; but 

 no sooner do you enter among the pines than, if the air be still, you 

 have only to listen for a few moments, and their note will direct you 

 where to find them. They usually feed in pairs." 



Nuthatches build in hollow trees, making their 

 own homes or using an old woodpecker's nest. Like 

 some other birds that nest in such places, they occa- 

 sionally carry sticks and grass into some hole in a 

 rotting tree in midwinter, but do not seem to make 

 use of the place when fitted up by them. 



Of the true titmice whole volumes might be writ- 

 ten. Emerson has immortalized one of them in verse: 



" Piped a tiny voice hard by, 

 Gay and polite, a cheerful cry, 

 Chick-chickadeedee ! saucy note 

 Out of sound heart and merry throat 

 As if it said, ' Good-day, good sir ! 

 Fine afternoon, old passenger! 

 Happy to meet you in these places, 

 Where January brings few faces.' " 



