3i8 Bird - Lore 



I have this minute been watching a pair of these Nuthatches feeding in 

 my apple and pear trees. They traveled restlessly up and down and around 

 the trunk and branches, never proceeding very far in a straight line and stop- 

 ping at every few hops to dig out a grub, hammering like a Woodpecker and 

 making the chips of bark fly. When in a precarious position on the under 

 side of a limb the bird held himself by keeping his legs stretched far apart and 

 his claws firmly anchored to the rough bark, the large hooked hind claw appar- 

 ently doing most of the work. The birds kept up a lively conversation as 

 they worked. Now and then they looked off while clinging head downwards, 

 assuming that quaint posture so characteristic of their kind. Finally they 

 flew away, one after the other, with a whir of the wings and an undulating 

 flight, and I have returned to my desk by the window. 



Though the breeding-range of the White-breasted Nuthatch is practically 

 coincident with its entire range, it seems to be largely migratory in its habits, 

 and probably breeds most numerously in the northern part and does not 

 winter in any numbers much farther north than Massachusetts. In most 

 parts of New England it appears to be most common as a migrant. 



To those who know it, in its breeding-haunts or elsewhere, 

 Notes the Red-breasted Nuthatch is dear out of all proportion to 



its size and its musical attainments. It is livelier than its big 

 cousin and prettier in its markings, and there is something particularly fetch- 

 ing about its quaint little form. It is even less of a songster than the white- 

 breasted species, for prolongations and repetitions of its caU-note seem to be 

 all it has that can pass for a song. This call-note can be rendered as aap. It is 

 nasal like that of the White-breasted Nuthatch but usually identified, 

 being much higher pitched and more drawling and lacking the r. It has 

 been happily likened to the sound of a tiny trumpet or tin horn. 



The habits of the Red-breasted Nuthatch are so like those 

 Habits of the White-breasted that much that I have said about that 



species is applicable to this. The most striking difference is in 

 the favorite haunts of the two birds, the Red-breasted preferring the conifer- 

 ous woods, or mixed woods that contain a large proportion of conifers. In 

 those winters when they are found in southern New England they come freely 

 to the neighborhood of man's dwellings and feed familiarly on the supplies 

 provided for the winter birds, but even here they show their partiality for 

 coniferous trees. They are particularly fond of the seeds of pines and spruces, 

 which form a large proportion of their diet, so that they are much more vege- 

 tarian in their habits than their white-breasted cousins. They have the same 

 habit of hiding their food in cracks and crevices. 



This Nuthatch does eat insect food, however, and may 



Food often be seen hopping up and down the trunks and over the 



branches of trees. It feeds among the small branches and twigs 



more than its cousin, and according to W. B. Barrows, in his 'Michigan Bird 



