58 Bird Comrades 



little rival. More than that, the nuthatch glides down- 

 ward with more ease and in a straight line, and does not 

 fling himself from side to side as the warbler does. Indeed, 

 the warbler's favorite method of going about is with his 

 head directed toward the sky rather than the reverse, 

 while it really seems that the nuthatch's predilection is 

 to scuttle about in an inverted position. Does he wish 

 to chisel a grub out of the bark of a tree? He usually 

 stands above the target at which he aims, so that he can 

 deliver his blows with more force, just as the human 

 woodchopper prefers to take his position above and not 

 below the stick or log upon which he expects to operate. 

 There the bird clings to his shaggy wall, pounding away 

 with might and main, until you fear he will shatter his 

 beak or strew his brains on the bark. Sometimes, too, 

 he thrusts his long, slender beak into a crevice and pries 

 with it in a way that threatens to snap it off in the middle. 

 What has been said applies to the white-breasted 

 nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) , but it is fair to assume that 

 all the other members of this subfamily behave in the 

 same way. The woodpeckers and creepers use their spiny 

 tails as supports while stationary or in motion; not. so the 

 nuthatches, which are sufficiently nimble on their feet to 

 stand or glide without converting their tails into braces. 

 Odd as it may seem to the uninformed, the nuthatches 

 belong to the order of passeres or perching birds, in spite 

 of their creeping habits. The systematists have placed 

 them in this niche of the avicular scheme, not only because 

 they are able to perch like other passeres on twigs and 



