86 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



migration many individuals stay through the winter, and 

 some linger till May. As an ordinary thing, however, these 

 birds find food enough in the north, 

 and are either entirely absent in south- 

 ern New England in winter, or occur 

 only as straggling migrants, or as rare 

 winter visitants. When they come 



south, they resort either to the pines 

 Fig. 3. Red-bellied i. xi -kt t • i. 



Nuthatch. °^ *° ^^^ Norway spruces, clinging to 



the cones till they extract the seeds, 

 then flying with nervous little movements to a limb where 

 they either hammer open the seed, or as frequently hammer 

 it into a crevice for safe-keeping. The Eed-bellied Nut- 

 hatch is a very active, restless bird, and its short tail gives 

 it a comical air of fussiness. The ordinary call-note is a 

 high-pitched nasal ank, ank ; when the bird is excited 

 this note is repeated very rapidly and for a long period. It 

 has, besides, a call-note like the syllable hiit, which is often 

 varied in pitch. Its nasal call is one or two tones higher 

 than that of the following species. 



If a Nuthatch has bright reddish-brown under parts, 

 there can be no doubt as to its identity, but in spring and 

 summer the color fades, and the female in particular is al- 

 most grayish below. It must then be distinguished from 

 the White-bellied Nuthatch by its small size, and by the 

 black or bluish-gray line through the eye. 



White-breasted Nuthatch ; White-bellied Nut- 

 hatch. Sitta carolinensis 

 6.07 

 Ad. $. — Upper parts grayish-blue, except the crown and front 

 part of back, which is black ; under parts white ; feathers under 

 the tail reddish-brown ; tail short and square, all but the central 

 pair of tail-feathers black, the outer ones with large white spots. 

 Ad. 9. — Similar to the $, but the black of bead and back re- 

 placed by dark grayiah-blue. 



