The Whip-poor-will 217 



they were rather inclined to crawl out of their shallow home. A day later we 

 again walked three miles to pay our respects to the Whip-poor-will family, 

 but no trace of it remained save a few white chips of egg-shells and two stray 

 feathers from the faithful bird who had reared so tenderly her 'babes in the 

 woods.' Doubtless she had carried them to a safer retreat in the forest 

 depths beyond. 



My Nuthatch Tenants and a Pair of Red-Headed Ruffians 



By R. ^V. -WILLIAMS 



TAKOMA PARK is a town of approximately 3,000 population, partly in 

 the District of Columbia and partly in Maryland. The boundary of 

 my front yard is the line between the District and Maryland, my home 

 being wholly within the state. The yard is 100 feet wide and about 175 feet long. 

 A small stream flows through a part of the premises in the rear. Neighbors, 

 whose places are about the area of my own, have a goodly supply of shade 

 trees, largely oaks. I have ten oaks in the yard, the majority standing in a 

 cluster to the east of the house. In the winter I feed the birds, and during that 

 season am the host to Jays, White-throated and Song Sparrows, Juncos, 

 Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, White- 

 breasted Nuthatches, and, occasionally, a Purple Crackle. One morning in the 

 latter part of last February, I saw at the same time six male Cardinals sitting 

 in a small tree in the back yard. At the time of the events about to be narrated, 

 a pair of Flickers were contentedly housed, and raised their brood, in a box 

 on one of the oaks in the cluster. 



In March last I made a bird-box out of four light boards about 15 inches 

 long and 6 inches wide, with projecting top and inserted bottom. The three 

 exposed sides and top I covered with bark. A hole about xyi inches in diameter 

 was bored rather close up under the projecting top. Sometime in the latter 

 part of the month I nailed this box about 25 feet up on the south side of the 

 main trunk of one of the oaks in the cluster. During the last days of the month 

 a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches were frequently seen on and around the 

 box, and by the end of the first week in April I was most agreeably surprised 

 to find that they had settled themselves there for the season. 



Their antics were comical. I frequently observed one or the other of them 

 on top of the box or on a nearby limb, swinging its body from side to side for 

 several minutes a»t a time, until I wondered if it possibly could escape dizzi- 

 ness. But they seemed never to tire of this performance and certainly were 

 physically none the worse for it. 



At first they were fairly noisy, but after a while, I suppose when incubation 

 began, they became, and until the young were hatched they continued to be, 

 quiet. Fearing that so unusual a tenant might desert the box if disturbed, I 



