RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



[Sitia canadensis.) 



BY LYNDS JONES. 



IT IS doubtful if any bird has been 

 more persistently overlooked or 

 more universally confounded with 

 a closely allied species than the 

 subject of this sketch. His superficial 

 resemblances to the white-breasced nut- 

 hatch, either in color or voice, are not 

 striking, certainly not so much so as 

 with other species which are not so 

 confused, yet it is certainly true that but 

 a small proportion of the laity are 

 aware that there are two nuthatches 

 roaming the woods, the one a migrant 

 in the Middle and Southern States, the 

 other resident wherever it is found. 

 What, then, are the marked differences 

 between them? The red-breast is de- 

 cidedly smaller than his cousm, his 

 breast is tinged with red or brown in- 

 stead of the immaculate white, and 

 there is a black line running through 

 the eye to the back of the head, sepa- 

 rating the white line above it from the 

 white throat; the cry is a nasal, long 

 drawn 'yank, yank,' very different from 

 the brisk, crisp, business-like utterance 

 of the white-breast. Moreover, he is a 

 traveled gentleman who spends the 

 winters in the South and his summers 

 mostly north of the United States, while 

 we have the white-breast with us during 

 the entire year. So much for differ- 

 ences. 



The habit of climbing head down- 

 ward, sidewise, or any way, is common 

 to all nuthatches. They feed upon the 

 insects and their eggs and larvae which 

 inhabit the bark crevices, but also some- 

 times vault into the air in pursuit of a 

 flying insect, after the manner of the 

 flycatchers. In the North, where the 

 red-breast sometimes tarries well into 

 the winter, rarely remaining all win- 

 ter long, they fasten nuts and seeds 

 in cracks or crevices and hatch them 

 with the beak, eating the meat, of 

 course. It is this habit of 'hatching' 

 nuts that gives the group its English 

 name. 



The red-breast is a bird of the whole 

 of the United States and at least south- 



ern Canada, but can be called common 

 only locally and occasionally. Some 

 seasons it may not appear at all at some 

 stations in its migration routes, and 

 again be common for a short period, 

 especially in the autumn. In most cen- 

 tral localities it may be expected dur- 

 ing the last two weeks of April and the 

 first week of May, and again from Sep- 

 tember well into the winter months, if 

 not all winter long. 



The nest is placed in some dead stub 

 in a hole excavated by the birds, usually 

 several feet from the ground — as high as 

 twelve feet sometimes. The nest ma- 

 terial is some soft substance like fine 

 grass and rootlets. The excavation is 

 usually shallow, scarcely more than six 

 inches down the stub, with other even 

 shallower holes in other trees in the 

 vicinity used as roosting-places for the 

 male during incubation. In beginning 

 the excavation, the birds drill small 

 holes in a circle in the bark, then take 

 out the center piece. In several in- 

 stances the bark about the entrance to 

 the nest cavity was coated with pitch 

 in which were sticking the red-breast 

 feathers of the architects. This pitch- 

 ing of the entrance to their home does 

 not seem to be a habit common to all 

 members of the species, however, for 

 few collectors mention the pitch, as 

 they certainly would if it were present. 



While birds of the woods, neither the 

 red-breast nor the white-breast are 

 strictly confined to the woods during 

 the seasons when they are not rearing a 

 brood. The red-breast is frequently 

 seen on the fences and out in the open, 

 gleaning from weed-stalks, during his 

 southward journey. He also seems very 

 fond of orchards and the ornamental 

 trees in the yard where he does excel- 

 lent service for the next season's fruit 

 and foliage. He is, perhaps, a little 

 less inquisitive than his white-breasted 

 cousin, but his small size and drawling 

 voice make him a pleasant fellow to 

 meet. 



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