CHAPTER IX. 

 THE NUTHATCHES, TITMICE, CREEPERS, AND WRENS. 



THE NUTHATCHES. 



THE nuthatches (Sittince) comprise a small group of creeping 

 birds which inhabit woodlands chiefly, although they often 

 visit trees in orchards and groves or along the highway. 

 Most of their food consists of insects gathered from the bark 

 of trees, but part of it is composed of seeds of various kinds. 

 They are compact flattened birds, with plumage of modest 

 colors and hard barbed and pointed tongues. Four species 

 and one variety occur in the United States, a common form 

 in the Northeast being the WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, which in 

 the Middle and Western States is replaced by a variety with a 

 more slender bill. This bird is frequently abundant in wood- 

 lands, and moves actively about over trunks and branches in 

 search of food. Professor King examined the stomach con- 

 tents of twenty-five Wisconsin specimens, and found that 

 fourteen of them had eaten beetles, including elaters and 

 longicorns, while others contained ants, caterpillars, and beetle- 

 grubs, a spider and a chrysalis, a few small toadstools, some 

 acorns, and a little corn. Four Illinois specimens had eaten 

 beetles of various kinds, some of them being lady-beetles. 



The food of this species in winter and spring was made 

 the subject of a special study by Professor E. D. San- 

 derson. u During the winter the larger proportion of the 

 food was composed of seeds, which gradually decreased as 

 insect life became more abundant." Seeds of Indian corn, 

 ragweed, and wild sunflowers were recognized ; the insects 

 were largely in egg or larval stages. In spring nearly eighty 

 per cent, of the food consisted of insects, chiefly adults. No 

 traces of acorns were found in the stomachs examined. From 



105 



