THE NUTHATCHES 



By FRANCIS H. ALLEN 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 59 



There is something eerie about these little birds, with their quaint 

 form and queer ways ; but if a bird wants to hop down a tree-trunk as 

 well as up it, he must dispense with the use of his tail as a support and 

 depend entirely upon his two feet, and to balance himself properly not 

 only must the feet be strong, the hind toe long, and the claws sharp 

 and hooked, but the whole bird must be made short and compact. 



Now, the Nuthatch needs a fairly long bill to poke deeply into the 

 crevices of the bark for his insect-food, and a fairly stout one to pry 

 off the chips and dig it out, so that the economy in length must be in 

 his neck and his tail. And here we have our bird, as Nature has made 

 him, and as Mr. Brasher has drawn him -'a short, 

 squat figure, with a tail only long enough to balance 

 his beak and steady him in flight, but with capable feet. 



But why should a bird wish to travel downwards on a tree-trunk? 

 To get his daily bread in the way that seems most natural and easy to 

 him. Evidently the Nuthatch is filling a gap in nature. He would not 

 have adopted so unusual a method of feeding if it had not stood him in 

 good stead. I suspect that by approaching his prey from above he 

 detects insects and insect-eggs in the crevices of the bark which would be 

 hidden from another point of view. The woodpeckers and the creepers 

 can take care of the rest. Of course these other birds get something of 

 a downward view as they bend their heads forward, but the Nuthatch 

 has the advantage of seeing, before he gets to them, some insects which 

 even a Brown Creeper's gentle approach would scare into closer hiding 

 in their holes and crannies. 



To most of us who live in the Northern States the Nuthatch is 



THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



We know him best as a welcome pensioner on our winter boiinty 

 and an industrious gleaner of insect-food from the trunks and branches 

 of the leafless trees in autumn, winter, and early spring. We love his 

 familiar unmusical notes, which seem so friendly to us, perhaps because 

 triey really express an unusual appreciation of the companionship of his 

 kind. The most striking of these is the one commonly interpreted as 

 (]ndnk. To my ear, however, though nasal, it has nothing of the nk in it, 

 while it has a distinct r-like quaver. It may be rendered as pr-r-aap, 

 sounded through the nose. Another note, reserved for closer com- 



