The White-Breasted and Red-Breasted Nuthatches 319 



Life,' is often seen investigating tufts of dead leaves in deciduous trees. If 

 this latter habit is a well-developed one, the bird should be useful in destroy- 

 ing nests of the brown-tail moth. Mr. Forbush records it as an enemy of the 

 gypsy moth. 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch excavates its nesting-hole 

 Nest usually in dead or partly decayed trees. Mr. 0. W. Knight, in 



'Birds of Maine,' says that a balsam fir stub is the favorite 

 tree for the purpose, one with punky wood but bark still clinging. In other 

 cases poplar trees and birches are chosen, but the locality is visually in conifer- 

 ous woods, or at least in woods where conifers abound. Both sexes work at 

 the excavation. The hole is usually lined with finely shredded bark or wood 

 fibers and perhaps soft grasses or feathers. The eggs are from four to six in 

 number, white or cream-white and speckled with reddish brown and lavender. 

 The most remarkable and characteristic thing about the nest is that the 

 entrance-hole is invariably surrounded by a ring of pitch brought from a 

 neighboring spruce, pine or balsam fir. It has been suggested that this may be 

 a protection against ants or mice. Whatever its purpose, the habit is an inter- 

 esting one and unique so far as our native birds are concerned. 



Unlike the White-breasted Nuthatch, which is represented 

 Range by another race in the West, the red-breasted species is the 



same bird the whole country over. It breeds in the Canadian 

 fauna and winters from southern Canada to Lower California, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and the Gulf Coast. Its migrations are irregular and largely depend- 

 ent on the cone crop in the forests where it breeds. If the cones are abundant 

 in the White Mountains, for instance, the Red-breasted Nuthatches of that 

 region remain there for the winter. If, however, the crop is a failure, as not 

 infrequently happens, the birds go south in late summer and early autumn. 

 When they migrate south they are rather apt to go beyond southern New 

 England, so that in such years they are much more abundant in Massachu- 

 setts in the early fall than later. The woods of central and southern New 

 Hampshire are sometimes fairly swarming with these birds in early autumn. 

 One interesting habit that this bird has in connection with its migration 

 is the curious one of dropping down on ships at sea. Birds of many kinds 

 occasionally alight on ships far away from land, but no other, I think, so 

 habitually as the Red-breasted Nuthatch. It may be seen on such occasions 

 traveling in its characteristic fashion up and down the masts and shrouds and 

 even alighting on the hats and clothing of persons on deck. Red-breasted 

 Nuthatches are also not infrequently found climbing over the rocks on the 

 seashore or on islands off-shore. I suspect that these little birds, not accus- 

 tomed to long flights, on finding themselves far from land, are glad to drop down 

 anywhere, on anything that promises to give them a foothold and a prospect of 

 rest and food. They show their adaptability by making the best of things 

 wherever they find themselves, and on sea, as on land, they win the hearts of men. 



