CHAPTER XLVIII. 



November 20 November 26. 



THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



Order Passeres. Suborder Oscines. 



Family Paridse. Subfamily Sittinae. 



Genus Sitta. Species Sitta carolinensis. 



Length 5.25 to 6.15 ; wing, 3.50 to'375 ; tail, 1.95 to 2.20. 

 Permanent resident. 



"Do you know the pretty nuthatch in his suit of ashen blue, 



With his dainty bib of white and his coat of modest brown? 



You may hear him sing, sometimes, though his notes are harsh and few 



But you'll know him when you see him by the black upon his crown." 



The family Paridae is composed of about one hundred 

 members and these are distributed throughout the temperate 

 portions of the northern hemisphere. It is divided into two 

 subfamilies, namely Sittinae, composed of the nuthatches, and 

 Parinae, composed of the chickadees. There are about twenty 

 species of the nuthatches. These are small, active, restless, 

 creeping, short-tailed, long-winged birds, marked with white, 

 black and brown colors. They derive their name from the 

 habit of wedging nuts into crevices of the bark, and then hack- 

 ing or hammering away with the bill till the shell is broken. 

 These nuts, however, form only a small portion of their food ; 

 generally they are insect eaters. The white-breasted nuthatch 

 is sometimes called the white-bellied nuthatch, Carolina nut- 

 hatch, tomtit, tree-mouse, and devil downhead. 



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