NUTHATCHES 483 



rule that birds which nest in sueh situations lay white unmarked eggs, 

 their eggs are spotted. Their name is derived from the habit of wedging 

 a nut in a crevice of the bark and then attempting to 'hatch' or 'hack' 

 it by repeated strokes with the bill. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. Underparts more or less washed with rufous; a black or gray streak 



through the eye 728. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



B. Underparts white or whitish ; under tail-coverts more or less rufous ; tail 



with white spots. 727. WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 7276. FLORIDA 

 NUTHATCH, 



C. Whole top of the head brown . . . 729. BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 



727. Sitta carolinensis carolinensis Lath. WHITE -BREASTED 

 NUTHATCH. (Fig. 74a.) Ad. <?. Top of head shining black; rest of upper- 

 parts bluish gray; inner secondaries bluish gray, marked with black; wing- 

 coverts and quills tipped with whitish; outer tail-feathers black, with white 

 patches near their tips; middle ones bluish gray; sides of head and under- 

 parts white; lower belly and under tail-coverts mixed with rufous. Ad. 9. 

 Similar, but black of head veiled by bluish gray. L., 6'07; T., 1'92; B., '70. 



Range. N. Am. e. of the Plains. Breeds in Canadian, Transition, and 

 Upper Austral zones from n. Minn., cen. Ont., s. Que., and N. F., s. to the 

 n. parts of the Gulf States; casual in Keewatin. 



Washington, common T. V., and W. V., less common S. R. Ossining, 

 common P. R. Cambridge, P. R., rare in summer, uncommon in winter, 

 common in migrations; most numerous in Oct. and Nov. N. Ohio, common 

 P. R. Glen Ellyn, fairly common P. R. SE. Minn., common P. R. 



Nest, of feathers, leaves, etc., in a hole in a tree or stump. Eggs, 5-8, 

 white or creamy white, thickly and rather evenly spotted and speckled 

 with rufous and lavender, '75 x '57. Date, Cambridge, Apl. 19; se. Minn., 

 Apl. 7. 



When the cares of a family devolve upon him, the Nuthatch eschews 

 all society and rarely ventures far from his forest home. But in the 

 winter I believe even the birds are affected by the oppressive loneliness; 

 the strangers of summer become for a time boon companions, and we 

 find Downy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, and Nuthatches wandering 

 about the woods or visiting the orchards on apparently the best of 

 terms. 



Few birds are easier to identify : the Woodpecker pecks, the Chick- 

 adee calls chickadee, while the Nuthatch, running up and down the 

 tree trunks, assumes attitudes no bird outside his family would think 

 of attempting. His powers of speech are in nowise disturbed by his 

 often inverted position, and he accompanies his erratic clamberings by 

 a conversational twitter or occasionally a loud, nasal yank, yank, which 

 frequently tells us of his presence before we see him. 



He is not too absorbed in his business to have a mild interest in 

 yours, and he may pause a moment to look you over in a calm kind of 

 way, which somehow makes one feel that perhaps, after all, Nuthatches 

 are of as much importance as we. But his curiosity is soon satisfied; 

 affairs are evidently pressing, and with a yank, yank, he resumes his 

 search for certain tidbits in the shape of grubs or insects' eggs hidden 

 in the bark. 



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