494 NOTES ON THE 
The food consists chiefly of coleopterous insects, with an oc- 
easional seed intermixed. He builds his nest much after the 
manner of the wrens, in any available place like a hollow limb 
or trunk of a tree—in the hollow of a tall stub—or beneath 
a depending piece of bark on the side of a dead tree. 
Five or six roseate-white eggs, delicately marked with 
brown, are laid about the 20th of May. 
This species is rather common a short time during migration, 
and a few remain all summer, but they mainly go beyond the 
limits of our territory to breed. Ina very carefully prepared 
list of birds observed at Vermilion lake by U.S. Grant, who 
accompanied Prof. Winchell in his geological explorations of 
St. Louis county, he saw but one individual, but at a season 
which justifies the presumption of its breeding in that region. 
In most wooded sections an occasional individual has been seen 
at a time when it is entirely reasonable to suppose them sum- 
mer residents. 
Mr. Washburn believes it ‘‘rare in Otter Tail county.” Its 
habits are such that they may easily be overlooked, and I still 
cherish the opinion that it has not yet received its proper credit. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill about length of head. Above dark-brown with a slight 
rufous shade, each feather streaked centrally but not abruptly 
with whitish; rump rusty; beneath almost silky white; under 
tail coverts with a faint rusty tinge; a white streak over the 
eye; ear coverts streaked with whitish. Tail feathers brown | 
centrally, the edges pale yellowish-brown; wings with a trans- 
verse bar of pale reddish-white across both webs. 
Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.90. 
Habitat, North America generally. 
Family PARID &. 
SITTA CAROLINENSIS Latuam. (727.) 
WHITEH-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 
The White-bellied Nuthatch is a permanent resident of Min- 
nesota, breeding, frequently, within the limits of the city as 
well as in forests remote from dwellings. The nests are 
usually found in cavities in trees much after the manner of 
woodpeckers, and consist of fine grasses, feathers and hairs 
which are lightly disposed in the bottom of the cavity selected. 
They almost uniformly lay six eggs which are white with a 
faint roseate tint, spattered with dots and splashes of pale 
reddish-brown. 
