24 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 94 



note and is associated as a rule with a calm mood. (2) The 

 well known ejaculation " quank," a call at certain distances 

 remarkably suggestive of the human voice, is often employed 

 when the bird seems excited. At such times the note is de- 

 livered with much vigor ; on other occasions it is apparently 

 used as a call between a pair of birds. This note and the 

 "hit" are the only notes I have heard from the female bird. 

 The "quank" call is very often doubled and is frequently ex- 

 tended into a loud, rattling chatter. As in the case of the 

 song, the "quank" appears very much rounder, fuller and 

 more resonant when heard near at hand. At short range it 

 has a rolling "r" sound. (3) A low-toned "chuck" is some- 

 times addressed to the female. (4) On several occasions I 

 have heard the male bird utter a growl (deep in tone for a 

 bird) as he dashed in attack at a Sparrow. (5) A note which 

 1 have heard but rarely is a long, high whistle with a rising, 

 followed by a falling inflection. Our word "queer" recalls 

 the note which bears a decided resemblance to one of the 

 Pine Grosbeak's piping calls. The note has a ventriloquial 

 property, appearing to come from a distance when, in reality, 

 the bird is close by. I heard this note several times in late 

 February and early March, generally between songs in the 

 early morning. 



Mr. H. W. Wright has shown (Auk, Vol. XXX, p. 531) 

 that at morning awakening, the voice of the White-breasted 

 Nuthatch is first heard among the latest bird-notes. He also 

 demonstrates that the late-rising birds retire early. My ex- 

 perience with our bird is in accord with Mr. Wright's find- 

 ings. Each afternoon he retired in broad daylight, — on fair 

 days while the sun shone full on the roosting-hole, — oftenest 

 about forty minutes before sunset. The time of retiring de- 

 pended somewhat on the weather and temperature. In the 

 most severe winter weather the bird sometimes used the hole 

 during the daytime, but generally between his visits to the 

 food-shelf he sat head-downward in a sunny hollow on the 

 ash tree. On the one morning when I actually saw the bird 

 leave the hole, he came out nineteen minutes after sunrise. 



