r 



The Nuthatch Family 59 



small branches, but also because they have the foot of 

 the true perching bird, with three toes in front and one, 

 well developed, in the rear. In this respect they differ 

 again from the woodpeckers, which have either two fore 

 and two hind toes, or two in fyont and only one behind. 

 This will appear all the more remarkable when it is 

 remembered that the Picida do not descend head down- 

 ward at all, while the Sitting are the head-downward 

 goers par excellence. Yet they have only one rear toe to 

 support them in their inverted position. You would 

 naturally suppose that if any bird had need of two hind 

 toes, it would be the nuthatch ; but the result proves 

 that, after all, Nature had her wits about her when she 

 evolved this avian family. 



The world over, there are twenty distinct species of 

 nuthatches known to scientific observers, but only four 

 of them are natives of America. Of course, there are a 

 number of subspecies or varieties. All of them are inces- 

 sant climbers and foragers, peering into crannies, pound- 

 ing here and there to make the grubs stir in their hiding 

 places, jabbing and prying with their beaks, and chiseling 

 out all kinds of larvae, grubs, and borers that would, if 

 permitted to live and multiply, soon devastate the timber 

 and fruit trees and make this world a desert indeed. 

 True, the other feathered clamberers and carpenters are 

 fully as useful, but depend upon it, the nuthatches do 

 their share in preserving our forests and orchards. 



The white-breasted nuthatch is our most common 

 species east of the great plains, breeding from the Gulf 



