Tame Red-Breasted Nuthatch 315 



One day he took a walnut by mistake, but dropped it before 

 he had gone very far, and scolded us for tricking- him. 



He took it for granted that he was the sole owner of the 

 feeding table and it took a great deal of his time trying to 

 keep the other birds away. One day my mother thought she 

 would put a nutjTieat on her hand and see how near he would 

 come to it. He wanted the nut very much, but was a little 

 shy about coming- down to get it ; he scolded, cocking his 

 head first on one side and then on the other. The tempta- 

 tion was too great ; he would risk his life ; he made a swoop, 

 lighting on her hand, and away he went with the nut. The 

 next day we all tried the same thing and found he woiild take 

 them after a great deal of scolding. We fed him every, day 

 and he gradually grew less timid. ■ 



We called him " Hatchie," and when we had a nut for him 

 and he was not in sight we would call, "Come, Hatchie," sev- 

 eral times and most always he would come, knowing what 

 was in store for him. 



He also got the habit of lighting on the top of a screen 

 door, which was' open, and in this way he could look in 

 through the kitchen window ; here he would sit and wait un- 

 til we would feed him. 



Sometimes when he had plenty to eat he would hide the 

 nuts under the bark of trees. 



He finally got so tame that he would come to any of the win- 

 dows and wait patiently for a nut. We had to keep little piles 

 of nuts by several of the windows so we would not have to 

 go so far. Several times he perched on the window sill when 

 we were upstairs. 



We grew to think a great deal of the little fellow and were 

 afraid he would leave us when it got warmer, and this 

 was true. As the weather grew warm in the spring and the 

 other winter birds went north, he left us. W'e missed him 

 the first day of April. At first we thought it was an April 

 fool trick, but it was not. He had left us for good, as we 

 have never seen him since. 



McGregor, Iowa. 



