WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 101 



oddities, and wander about' giyiiig oCpnceris Wher- 

 ever they go, till the woods are alive, agaj^,, and 

 we forget that we have .ever*, missed tho summer 

 birds. 



When the drums get too much absorbed in 

 their tree trunks, the alto and air go serenading 

 by themselves, and who knows what gossip they 

 indulge in about the grave magicians' day dreams, 

 or how gayly they swear to stand by each other 

 and never be put down by these drums ! They 

 are old chums, and work together as happily as 

 Mr. and Mrs. Spratt, the chickadee whistling his 

 merry chick-a-dee-dee, dee, dee as he clings to a 

 twig in the tree top, and the nuthatch answering 

 back with a jolly little yank, yank, yank, as he 

 hangs, head down, on the side of a tree trunk. 

 What a comic figure he makes there ! 



Trying to get a view of you, he throws his head 

 back and stretches himself away from the tree till 

 you wonder he does not fall off. His black cap 

 and slate-blue coat are almost hidden, he raises 

 his white throat and breast up so high. 



" Devil-down-head " he is called from this habit 

 of walking down the trees, since instead of walk- 

 ing straight down backwards, as the woodpeck- 

 ers do, he prefers to obey the old adage and 

 " follow his nose." A lady forgetting his name 

 once aptly described him to me as " that little up- 

 side-down bird," for he will run along the under 

 side of a branch with as much coolness as a fly 

 would cross the ceiling. 



