358 INSESSORES. 



&c., and often follows in their rear, gleaning up those insects 

 which their more powerful bills had alarmed and exposed ; for 

 its own slender incurvated bill seem unequal to the task of pen- 

 etrating into even the decayed wood ; though it may enter into 

 holes and behind scales of the bark." It builds its nest in some 

 rent or cleft in a tree, where a branch has been broken off, or 

 where a hole has been chiseled by a woodpecker, and deposits in 

 it six or eight ash-colored eggs, marked with dusky reddish spots. 

 The voice of the Creeper is a monotonous cry, not very loud, 

 but often and suddenly repeated, especially in its flight from tree 

 to tree. The food on which it lives consists principally of small 

 beetles, bugs and flies, which it draws from their places of con- 

 cealment. Wilson mentions having found in its stomach, the 

 seeds of the pine tree and large quantities of gravel. Did our 

 limits permit, we would give details of genera and species 

 found in South America and Australia. 



The Nuthatches, Sitta, are allied to the Titmice on the one 

 hand, and the Woodpeckers on the other. They have a stronger 

 bill than that of the Tree Creepers; and it is straight and pointed 

 like that of the Woodpeckers, used rather to scale off the bark 

 than to perforate it ; and they do not support themselves upon 

 the tail. They run about the trunk and branches of trees, seek- 

 ing for insects and their larvae, berries and nuts; they are noted 

 for their instinct of fixing a nut in a chink while they pierce it 

 with the bill, swinging the whole body as on a pivot, to make the 

 stroke more effective. The name Nuthatches is given to these 

 birds on account of the hatches or hammerings which they make 

 on hard nuts in search of the larvae within. From four to six 

 species of these birds are found within the United States. The 

 White-breasted Nuthatch, S. Carolinensis, is about five inches 

 long, o.f a slate blue above and pure white beneath ; it ranges 

 from Mexico to Maine. The eggs are whitish, spotted with 

 brown at the larger end, and from four to six in number. 

 The Red-bellied Nuthatch, S. Canadensis, is four and a half 

 inches long and lead-colored. This is a more northern bird than 

 the preceding, ranging from Maryland to Nova Scotia. The 

 BROWN-HEADED Nuthatch, S. pusilla, ranges from Texas to Mary- 

 land. The PYGMY NUTHATCH, S. pygmea, is found in California ; 

 it is less than four inches long. 



The Wrens, Troglodytes, (Gr. troglodutes, a creeper into 

 caves.) are properly included in the present family, though they 

 have been differently arranged by some authors. (See Chart.) 

 The House Wren, T. aedon, is a familiar little bird which has 

 become inviolable, like the robin, from the confidence which it 



