12 Bird -Lore 



In making the excavation, she would carry off some of the chips and 

 apparently hide them as she would a nut, others she would carry 

 away and drop, and still others (generally the smaller ones) she would 

 drop from the entrance to the hole. 



During the whole nesting time the male was particularly tame, and 

 would come to us whenever we were in the vicinity of the nest, follow 

 us, alight on our hands and eat while we were walking. One day, after 

 feeding from our hands for a short time, he flew to a small pool only a 

 few feet away and took a bath; then, without waiting to dry his feathers, 

 returned to finish his meal. 



We were unable to take time to watch the nest carefully enough to 

 obtain exact data, but on May 4 we saw both birds carrying food to > 

 the nest, and on May 12 saw the young peeping out of the hole. A 

 few days after this we saw the whole family at the old feeding-ground, 

 and they remained in our woods all summer, being about the only 

 Red-breasted Nuthatches observed during that season. 



The Return of the Nuthatch 



BY E. M. MEAD 



With photojjraphs from nature by B. S. Bowdish 



READERS of Bird -Lore may remember the photograph from nature 

 of the White -breasted Nuthatch published in this magazine for 

 December, 1901, which shows the bird on my hand with a nut 

 she had just taken. In April of that year she disappeared, presumably 

 for nesting, from Central Park, New York city, where I had tamed and 

 fed her. The following winter I watched closely and inquired frequently 

 of the many bird -lovers in the park if White-breasted Nuthatches had 

 been seen, but none were reported, so I sorrowfully concluded that some 

 misfortune had befallen my bird friend. 



On my return to the park in October, igo2, about a mile north of 

 the place where I fed and tamed the Nuthatch in 1900, I saw at various 

 times two or three White -breasted Nuthatches, and others were reported. 

 Then I placed, each day, bits of nut and suet in the crevices of the bark 

 of trees, hoping my bird would be attracted, if, returning, she should 

 chance to pass that way. My patience has been well rewarded, for the 

 bird has apparently returned, but without her mate, and still enjoys as 

 much — even more, perhaps — alighting on my hand and helping herself to 

 the nuts she finds there. So fearless is she that she will take food from 

 my lips, shoulder or lap. Even an open umbrella over my head has no 

 terrors for her. Although she manifested some annoyance at the ap- 



