OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 67 



the Cerlhiidcz', still there are some points of re- 

 semblance to the Picida. Like the latter, it is 

 occasionally seen to tap the bark of trees, then 

 to assume a listening attitude as if to discover the 

 whereabouts of some undermining larva, which, 

 if successful, it endeavors to transfix by its sharp 

 bill. 



Unlike the species whose history we have just 

 described, this Nuthatch is very shy, and loves 

 retirement. It prefers the solitude of dry, high 

 thickets to the noise and bustle of civilized life. 

 We have never known it to desert its solitary 

 haunts for those of man, even during the most 

 rigorous winters. Isolated individuals sometimes 



o 



occur, but most generally males and females are 

 seen together. The same devotion characterizes 

 the sexes as those of the little Parus atricapillus. 

 Whilst engaged in feeding, it frequents the 

 uppermost and middle branches of tall trees, 

 seldom descending to the lower branches, as is the 

 case with our common Brown Creeper. During 

 the winter, great numbers of the ova and larvae 

 of coleoptera which occupy the crevices of bark, 

 and fully developed elaters and buprestians, the 

 Elater cinereus of \Veber now referred to the 

 genus Cratonychus, and Buprestis Virginica of 

 Drury, also referred to the genus Chalcophora by 

 Dr. Leconte, constitute an important part of its 

 diet. As winter lapses into spring, and insect-life 

 becomes more plentiful, its bill of fare is consider- 

 ably enlarged ; Cratonychus pertinax, Rhynchceus 



