THE OOLOGIST. 



157 



The "White-bellied Nuthatch. 



Taken fkom Florence A. Mekkiam's 



"Birds through an Opera-Glass." 



Crossbills, Snow Buntings, Blue 

 Jays, Pine Finches, Pine Grosbeaks, 

 Goldlinches, and sometimes other birds 

 visit us here at irregular intervals dur- 

 ing the winter, but tliere are four little 

 friends that never desert us, no matter 

 how long the winter lasts. They form 

 a novel quartette, for the Chickadee 

 whistles the air, the Nuthatch sings his 

 meagre alto through his nose, and the 

 two- Woodpeckers — the Hairy and 

 DoAvuy — beat their drums as if deter- 

 mined to drown the other parts. But 

 they are a merry baud, with all their 

 oddities, and wander about giving con- 

 certs wherever they go, till the woods 

 are alive again, and we forget that we 

 have ever missed the summer birds. 



When the drums get too much absor- 

 bed in their tree trunks, the alto and 

 air go serenading by themselves, and 

 wlio knows what gossip they indulge in 

 about the grave magicians' day dreams, 

 or how gayly tliey s^vear to stand by 

 each other and never be put down by 

 these drums! 



They ai"e old chums and Avork to- 

 gether as happily as Mr. and Mrs. 

 Spratt, the Chickadee whistling his 

 merry chich-a-dee-dee, dee, dee, as he 

 clings to a twig in the tree top, and the 

 Nuthatch answering back Avith a jolly 

 little yank, yank, yank, as he hangs, 

 liead down, on the side of a ti'ee trunk. 

 What a comic figure he makes there! 



Trying to get a vicAV of you, he 

 throws his head back and stretclies 

 himself away from the tree till you 

 wonder he does not fall off. His black 

 cap and slate-blue coat are almost hid- 

 den, he raises his white throat and 

 breast up so high. 



"Devil-down-head" he is called from 

 this habit of walking down the trees, 

 since instead of walking straight down 

 backwards, as the Woodpeckers do, 



he prefers to obey the old adage and 

 "follow his nose." A lady forgetting 

 ids name once aptly described him to 

 me as "that little upside-down bird," 

 for he will run along the under side of 

 a branch Avith as much coolness as a fly 

 Avould cross the ceiling. 



One of his popular names is "Sap- 

 sucker," for our Nuthatch has a SAveet 

 tooth, and when the farmers tap the 

 trees in spring he "happens round" at 

 the sugar bush to see what sort of 

 maple syrup] they are to have. He 

 tests it Avell, taking a sip at "the calf" 

 Avhere it oozes out from the gashing of 

 the axe, tasting it as it dries along the 

 spile, and finally on the rim of the 

 buckets. 



But his most interesting name is— 

 Nuthatch! Hoav does he come by itV 

 That seems a riddle. Scmie cold 

 November day put on a pair of thick 

 boots and go to visit the beeches. 

 There in their tops are the Nuthatches, 

 for they have deserted the tree trunks 

 for a frolic. They are beech-nutting! 

 And that Avitli as much zest as a party 

 of school children starting out AAith 

 baskets and jxiils ort a holiday. Watch 

 them noAvI What clumsy work thcA' 

 make of it, trying to cling to the beech- 

 nut burr, and get tlie nuts out at the 

 same time, It's a pity the Chickadee 

 can't give them a fcAV lessons! They 

 might better have kept to their tree 

 trunks. But they persist, and after 

 tumbling off from several burrs, finally 

 snatch out a nut and fly off with it as 

 calmly as if they had been dancing 

 about among the twigs all their days. 

 AAvay they go till they come to a maple 

 or some other rough-barked tree, Avhen 

 they stick the nut!,in betAveen the ridges 

 of the bark, hammering it doAvn, and 

 then, Avhen it is so tightly AA'edged that 

 the slippery sliell cannot get aAvay from 

 them, by a fcAv sharp blows they hatch 

 the ?zi<^ from the tree! 



Through my glass I Avatched a num- 

 ber of them this fall, and thej all 



