The Nuthatches 235 



ing like a Woodpecker and making the chips of bark fly. When in a 

 precarious position on the under side of a limb the bird held itself by 

 keeping its legs stretched far apart and its claws firmly anchored to the 

 rough bark, the large hooked hind claw apparently doing most of the 

 work. The birds kept up a lively conversation as they worked, and now 

 and then looked off while clinging head downward, assuming that quaint 

 posture so characteristic of their kind; finally they 

 flew away with a whir of wings and an undulating Flight and 

 flight, and I returned to my desk by the window. 



Although the breeding-range of the White-breasted Nuthatch is 

 virtually coincident with its entire range, it seems to be somewhat 

 migratory in its habits, and probably breeds most numerously in the 

 northern part, and does not winter in any numbers much farther north 

 than Massachusetts. 



THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 



To those who know it the Red-breasted Nuthatch is dear out of 

 all proportion to its size and its musical attainments. It is livelier than its 

 big cousin, and prettier in its markings, and there is something partic- 

 ularly fetching about its quaint little form. It is even less of a songster 

 than the White-breasted species, for prolongations and repetitions of its 

 call-note seem to be all it has that can pass for a song. This call-note 

 can be rendered as dap. It is nasal, like that of the White-breasted Nut- 

 hatch, but much higher in pitch, more drawling, and lacks the r. It has 

 been happily likened to the sound of a tiny trumpet or tin horn. 



The habits of the Red-breasted Nuthatch are so like those of the 

 White-breasted that much that I have said about that species is applicable 

 to this. The most striking difference is in the favorite haunts of the 

 two birds, the Red-breasted preferring the coniferous woods, or mixed 

 woods that contain a large proportion of evergreens. In those winters 

 when they are found in southern New England they come freely to the 

 neighborhood of man's dwellings and feed familiarly on the supplies pro- 

 vided for the winter birds, but even there they show their partiality for 

 coniferous trees. They are particularly fond of the seeds of pines and 

 spruces, so that they are much more vegetarian than 



their White-breasted cousins. They have the same . Habits of 

 , , . . .... ... . . the Redbreast 



habit of hiding their savings in cracks and crevices. 



This Nuthatch does eat insect-food, however, and may often be 

 seen hopping up and down the trunks and over the branches of trees. It 

 feeds among the small branches and twigs more than its cousin ; and, 

 according to W. B. Barrows, in his "Michigan Bird Life," is often seen 

 investigating tufts of dead leaves of deciduous trees. If this latter habit 

 is a well-developed one, the bird should be useful in destroying nests of 

 the brown-tail moth. 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch excavates its nesting-hole usually in 

 dead or partly decayed trees. O. W. Knight, in his book,. Birds of 

 Maine, says that a balsam-fir stub is the favorite tree for the purpose; 



