494 NE^Y YORK STATE MUSEUM 



rising again and the last abruptly falling, to die away in an indescribably 

 plaintive cadence like the soft sighing of the wind among the pine boughs." 



As far as my experience goes, the nest of this species is uniformly 

 placed behind a strip of bark which has been loosened from the trunk of 

 some tree in the swamp. In Potter swamp, where it was an abundant 

 summer resident, these strips of bark were loosened by the ice which 

 formed when the swamps were flooded, and left favorable nesting sites near 

 the ground. Now these trees have been removed and the creeper is no 

 longer common. The nest is composed of fine twigs, bark, mosses and bits 

 of dead wood, lined with soft materials. The eggs are from 5 to 8 in 

 number, white in ground color, speckled with cinnamon or reddish brown 

 and lavender tending to form a wreath near the larger end of the egg. The 

 dimensions are .62 by .48 inches. The nesting dates for western New York 

 vary from the 5th to the 25th of May. Of nine sets of eggs in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution from Herkimer and Oneida counties, New York, the 

 dates vary from the 2d to the 21st of May, from the 12th to the 30th of 

 June and the i8th of July, indicating that two broods are frequently reared 

 in the Adirondacks. During my trips to the Adirondacks I have found 

 the birds feeding their young throughout the month of June and frequently 

 late in July, indicating also that in the Mt Marcy district there are two 

 broods reared at least by some of the birds. 



This species is undoubtedly one of the most valuable assistants of the 

 horticulturist and forester, as its food is almost entirely insectivorous and 

 is taken from the bark and trunks of trees. Although a few predaceous 

 species may be destroyed, it seems to feed principally upon injurious 

 insects. 



Family SITTIDA.E 



Nuthatches 



Wing long and pointed, with 10 primaries; tail short and broad, nearly 



square, composed of soft feathers; bill slender, acute and subcylindrical 



in shape, tapering and compressed, about as long as the head; nostril as 



in titmice; the tongue elongated, pointed and barbed; tarsus short, rather 



