NUTHATCH. 



327 



back of the European species," says Wilson, " are of 

 a uniform bluish grey ; the upper parts of the head, 

 neck, and shoulders of ours are a deep black glossed 

 with green ; the breast and belly of the former are a 

 dull orange, with streaks of chestnut ; those parts in 

 the latter are pure white. The European has a line 

 of black passing through the eye, half way down the 

 neck ; the present species has nothing of the kind, 

 but appears with the inner webs of the three shortest 

 secondaries and primaries of a jet black ; the latter 

 tipped with white, and the vent and lower parts of the 

 thighs of a rust colour. The European, therefore, 

 and the present are evidently two distinct and different 

 species. The bird builds its nest early in April, in 

 the hole of a tree, in the hollow rail in a fence, and 

 sometimes in the wooden cornices under the eaves, 

 and lays five eggs of a dull white, spotted with brown 

 at the greater end. The male is extremely attentive 

 to the female while sitting, supplying her regularly 

 with sustenance, stopping frequently at the mouth of 

 the hole, calling and offering her what he has brought 

 in the most endearing manner. Sometimes he seems 

 to stop merely to inquire how she is, and to lighten 

 the tedious moments with his soothing chatter. He 

 seldom rambles far from the spot ; and when danger 

 appears, regardless of his own safety, he flies instantly 

 to alarm her. When both are feeding on the trunk 

 of the same tree, or of adjoining ones, he is perpe- 

 tually calling on her ; and, from the momentary pause 

 he makes, it is plain that he feels pleased to hear her 

 reply. 



" The white-breasted nuthatch is common almost 

 every where in the woods of North America, and 

 may be known at a distance by the notes quank, quank, 

 frequently repeated, as he moves upward and down 

 in spiral circles around the body and larger branches 

 of the trees, probing behind the thin scaly bark of the 

 white oak, and shelling off considerable pieces of it, 

 in his search after spiders, ants, insects, and their 

 larvae. He rests and roosts with his head downwards, 

 and appears to possess a degree of curiosity not com- 

 mon in many birds, frequently descending very silently 

 within a few feet of the root of the tree where you 

 happen to stand, stooping, head downwards, stretch- 

 ing out his neck in a horizontal position, as if to re- 

 connoitre your appearance ; and, after several minutes' 

 silent observation, wheeling round, he again mounts 

 with fresh activity, piping his unisons as before. 

 Strongly attached to his native forests, he seldom 

 forsakes them ; and, amidst the rigours of the severest 

 winter weather, his note is still heard in the bleak 

 leafless woods, and among the howling branches. 

 Sometimes the rain, freezing as it falls, encloses every 

 twig, and even the trunk of the tree, in a hard trans- 

 parent coat or shell of ice. On these occasions I 

 have heard his anxiety and dissatisfaction at being 

 with difficulty able to make his way along the smooth 

 surface ; at these times generally abandoning the 

 trees, gleaning about the stables, around the house, 

 mixing among the fowls, entering the barn, and ex- 

 amining the beams and rafters, and every place where 

 he may pick up a subsistence." 



RED-BELLIED BLACK-CAPPED NUTHATCH (S. varia}. 

 This is a smaller species than the preceding. It 

 measures only four and a half inches in length in the 

 body, and the stretch of the wings is about eight 

 inches. It corresponds exactly with the last in the 

 form of the bill, nostrils, and tongue, and also in the 

 colour of the back and tail feathers. The secondaries, 



however, are not varied with so deep a black as the 

 other species. The legs, feet, and claws, are of a 

 dingy greenish yellow ; the head is black on the upper 

 part; a stripe of white encircles the frontlet; a streak 

 of black passes through the eye, reaching to the 

 shoulder ; under this streak there is a line of white, 

 and the chin is also of this latter colour. The wings 

 and primaries are of dusky lead colour, and the other 

 under parts are light russet. The top of the head of 

 the female is not of so deep a black as the male, nor 

 is the belly and breast of so intense a brown. 



These birds are migratory. They breed in the 

 northern states, whence they pass to the southern 

 ones in October, and return in April. This and the 

 last mentioned species are readily distinguished both 

 by the smallness of its size and the superior swiftness 

 of its motions. There is also a decided difference in 

 the voices of the two species. The notes of the pre- 

 sent one are much sharper and quicker, and nearly 

 an octave higher ; but there is not much difference in 

 the music they produce, which is altogether a mono- 

 tonous and untuneful stave. From the close resem- 

 blance they bear in point of colours and general 

 habits, it is not unlikely that in their mode of con- 

 structing their nests, and in other parts of their eco- 

 nomy, they may also make a similar approach to each 

 other. Both these little birds are extremely useful, 

 on account of their destroying vast quantities of those 

 destructive insects and their larvae which are so de- 

 structive to our fruit and forest trees. Their princi- 

 pal haunts are those forests where pines are most 

 abundant, especially in the winter season, as the seeds 

 of the pine seems to be their favourite food. 



It is highly probable that this migratory species 

 has been called by different names in different parts 

 of America, and different states of its plumage, though 

 we still want correct information respecting the birds 

 of those parts of the United States to which the 

 keen-eyed observation of Wilson did not extend. 

 According to him, and within the limits of his ob- 

 servation, the pine forests are almost the exclusive 

 haunts of the red-bellied and black capped nuthatches ; 

 and many thousand acres of the deciduous forests may 

 be traversed in winter without finding them, though 

 they are abundant on the pine barrens as they are 

 styled in that part of the country. It is indeed a 

 point worth attending to in the natural history of 

 pine forests, that the birds which take up their habi- 

 tation almost exclusively there, are nearly as per- 

 manent all the year round in the locality as the 

 greenness of the leaves. We find it so in the peculiar 

 birds of the pine forests of Europe, however small 

 they may be, and apparently ill able to endure the 

 severe winters of the north ; for the little crested 

 wrens remain secure in the cover of the pines, when 

 much larger birds, which summer on the open grounds 

 in the same regions,' are driven southward in flocks. 

 In those pine forests, the red-bellied nuthatches are 

 most frequently found in pairs, and not in flocks or 

 packs of their own species, though they associate readily 

 with tits, small-spotted woodpeckers, and other birds 

 which prefer similar localities, and are capable of similar 

 activity. " The whole tribe" (meaning the black- 

 capped tit, the crested tit, the little spotted wood- 

 pecker, and these nuthatches), says Wilson, " pro- 

 ceed regularly from tree to tree through the woods 

 like a corps of pioneers ; while, in a calm day, the 

 rattling of their bills, and the rapid motions of their 

 bodies, thrown, like as many tumblers and rope- 



