Wayne: Bieds op South Carolina. 193 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch breeds in the mountains of North 

 Carolina (above 5,000 feet) and northward to Hudson Bay and 

 Alaska. 



296. Sitta pusilla Lath. Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



This diminutive species is a permanent resident and is the 

 commonest nuthatch that breeds in the State. It inhabits open 

 pine woods where there are innumerable dead trees and stumps, 

 in which it excavates a hole for the reception of its nest and eggs. 

 The birds are generally distributed, being found in abundance on 

 all the coast islands which have a heavy growth of pine trees. 



If the season is forward the birds begin to mate towards the 

 end of January, but as a rule most of them mate by the middle of 

 February. The hole, which is excavated by both sexes, ranges 

 from six inches to ninety feet above the ground, and is generally 

 dug in a dead pine stump or tree, though sometimes a fence post is 

 used. The birds are very fastidious in respect to the final selec- 

 tion of a nesting site and I have known them to dig several holes 

 before a satisfactory one is finished. They are indefatigable 

 little workers and seem never to tire, one relieving the other, or 

 else uttering notes of encouragement while the excavation pro- 

 ceeds . 



The nest is constructed chiefly of the leaf-like substance in 

 which the seeds of the pine are enclosed, and I have often won- 

 dered at the infinite number of trips the birds make in carrying, one 

 at a time, these soft and delicate pine seed- wings. The number 

 of eggs varies from five to seven, generally six, exceptionally 

 seven. They are white or creamy white, sometimes finely and 

 evenly speckled, and again very heavily blotched with different 

 shades of reddish brown and lavender. They measure .60X-49. 

 I took a set of five fresh eggs near Charleston on March 12, 1887, 

 which is my earliest record, while at Yemassee in the same year, 

 I took fresh eggs on March 30. The winter of 1894-95 was very 

 severe and the first nest, which contained six fresh eggs, was not 

 found until April 17, while two more nests containing four eggs 

 each were found on May 2, which shows that the birds do not 

 breed with regularity. 



Although Audubon says that "they frequently raise three 

 broods in the season, but more commonly two," this statement 

 is erroneous, for this species rears only one brood. 



