444 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



ered by open, culled woods, this Nuthatch can be heard from the 

 dense timber while the White-breasted Nuthatch utters its call 

 from the scattered trees of the more open area. The difference in 

 the calls is very noticeable, those of the White-breasted being deeper, 

 hoarser, and more throaty than the notes of the Red-breasted, which 

 do not seem to have the nk quality so noticeable. Both Nuthatches 

 make their nest in holes and crevices of trees and lay red-speckled 

 eggs ; but that of the Red-breasted is distinguished by a daubing of 

 resin about its entrance. 



White-breasted Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis carolinensis 

 Lath. 



Length 6. Upper parts grayish blue ; crown and nape black ; under 

 surface white; vent reddish; outer tail quills with white patches. 



The White-breasted Nuthatch is a bird of the open, cleared spaces, 

 where it seeks its food on large trees ; and it nearly always chooses 

 the hardwoods, alive or dead, for its foraging, and works with 

 great diligence and patience. It utilizes a hole in a stump or tree 

 as its sleeping quarters for the night. A White-breasted Nuthatch 

 had a cavity which is used in this manner, a hole made by a wood- 

 pecker at the top of a dead stub, in the Partial Clearing. Every night 

 about sundown the Nuthatch would seek this shelter. Once, after 

 it had retired for the night, a Downy Woodpecker came foraging 

 for a morsel of dessert for its late supper, and clambered up the 

 stub as it inspected the bark. It chanced to keep to the other side 

 of the stub until it reached the top, when it sidled around and 

 discovered the hole just below the top. The woodpecker moved to 

 enter the cavity, but a movement from within warned it that the 

 place was tenanted, and the Downy hastily fluttered around the stub 

 to another position. Again the woodpecker circled the stub and 

 looked into the hole, but again the tenant gave it a sharp reminder 

 of its own claim, when the intruder withdrew and continued its 

 untimely foraging elsewhere. 



Brown Creeper. Certhia familiaris aincricana Bonap. 



Length 5.6. Upper surface brown sprinkled with gray; tail plain and 

 pointed ; under parts white ; bill slender, curved. 



The Brown Creeper is an inhabitant of the mixed woods, pre- 

 ferring them in their more open aspect. Mature trees are essential 

 to the Creeper and it constantly associates with the Downy Wood- 

 pecker, White-breasted Nuthatch and Chickadee. I first -heard the 

 song of the Creeper here. An adult was at work getting and carry- 

 ing food for several young birds lately out of the nest. He gleaned 

 chiefly from the trunks of maples and beeches, and as he climbed 

 about he sang from time to time, usually only when well up toward 

 the top of the trunk. The song was a weak but pleasing twitter or 

 warble much like that of the Black and White Warbler, — a chatter- 

 ing expression of content distinctly different from any other song 

 heard in the open woodland association. The date was July 22, 

 long after the Brown Creeper is supposed to have concluded his 



