THE NUTHATCH, CHICKADEE AND CREEPER 



185 



Six well-marked types and several races of 

 Chickadees inhabit North America from Alaska 

 to Mexico, but the one most widely known is that 

 just named. 



The White-Breasted Nuthatch 1 deserves 

 the most perfect protection and encouragement 

 that the people of this country know how to 

 offer. One good look at this bird on the trunk 

 of a valuable tree, searching as if with a magnify- 

 ing glass for the trees' deadly enemies, — the 

 borers, — ought to convert any person to the cause 

 of bird-protection. Like the chickadee, the 

 Nuthatch remains in the north all winter, be- 

 cause he feels that he has not a moment to lose 

 in his war on the borers. 



The tree-trunks are his favorite hunting- 

 ground, and he goes over them, literally inch by 

 inch. He becomes so absorbed in his work that 

 he forgets all about himself, and works half the 

 time head downward, or oblique, or horizontal, 

 as it may happen to be. Rarely does he stop 

 to talk, and even then he only clucks in his throat, 

 " not necessarily for publication, but as a guar- 

 antee of good faith." 



Often in the silent and snowy woods, when 

 your feet go rip! rip! rip! through the frozen 

 crust, you hear close overhead a scratching, dig- 

 ging sound, as of some one gouging into rough 

 bark with a pocket-knife. Look up, and it will 

 be a Nuthatch, working away as if his job de- 

 pended upon the doing of a daily stint. He 

 thinks that in his case it is the late bird that 

 catches the worm! His beak is like that of a 

 small woodpecker, and although his friend the 

 chickadee has more style than he, he himself is 

 much better fitted for digging in bark. The top 

 of his head is black, his sides, throat and breast 

 are pure white, while his back is dull blue, or 

 gray-blue. As a climber, this bird surpasses 

 the woodpecker, because in clinging to a tree- 

 trunk it makes no use of its tail. 



Nuthatches are easily encouraged to make 

 your trees their head-quarters. In December, 

 nail to a tree-trunk here and there, about twelve 

 feet from the ground, some lumps of suet, or fat 

 pork on the rind, or beef bones with a little raw 

 meat upon them, and see how quickly the birds 

 find them out. The "winter residents" will 

 feast upon them until the last morsel has disap- 

 peared, and they will appreciate your thought- 

 1 Sit'ta carolinensis. Length, about 6 inches. 



fulness thus displayed precisely when tree- 

 borers burrow deepest, and are most difficult 

 to get at. 



THE TREE-CREEPER FAMILY. 



Certhiidae. 



The Brown Creeper- represents a small Fam- 

 ily of small birds of tree-climbing habits, but 

 with bills that are rather too slender for work in 

 bark. They are not fitted by nature for digging 

 a modest and retiring borer from the bottom of 

 his tunnel, and therefore they make a specialty 

 of bark-lice and other surface wood-workers 

 which can be picked off without hard digging. 



As an example of protective coloration, this 



WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



little creature is worthy of special note. Its 

 back is brown, marked by about twelve broad 

 stripes of dull gray, and between the two colors 

 the striations of bark are surprisingly well imi- 

 tated. On the side of an oak, or elm, or chest- 

 nut, this little bird is almost invisible until it 

 moves. It does not work head downward, like 

 the nuthatch, but creeps about with its head up, 

 braced by its tail, like a woodpecker. Like 



2 Cer'thi-a fa-mil-i-ar'is americanus. Length, 5* 

 inches. 



