OF VIRGINIA 337 
being a bird of the Alleghenian fauna in that respect. 
Their long sharp bills make them well fitted for gleaning 
the bark cracks and crevices of insect life, while seeds are 
also eaten to some extent. I found them fairly common 
in Giles County at an elevation of 3,500 feet, and up. 
[728]. Sitta canadensis (Linneus). Red-breasted 
Nuthatch. 
Ranex.—North America. Breeds in Canadian zone 
from the upper Yukon Valley, southern Mackenzie, cen- 
tral Keewatin, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland south 
to northern Minnesota, Michigan, and Massachusetts, and 
south in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains to 
California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and in the 
Alleghenies to North Carolina; also on Guadalupe Island, 
Lower California; winters from southern Canada south 
to Lower California, New Mexico, Arizona and the Gulf 
coast. 
This nuthatch is similar to the former bird, though a 
trifle smaller, and with a red breast instead of the white. 
Their movements in search of food, so characteristic of 
the whole family, are ably carried out by this bird as well, 
and their food differs little from that of the Brown-headed 
Nuthatch. They are, however, not as numerous as the 
White-breasted Nuthatch, nor do they winter with us, ar- 
riving from the north about the last of September and going 
northward again the first part of April. They prefer the 
pine trees in preference to all others, from which they 
gather practically all their food. Professor Smyth reports 
young birds taken on August 12th at Blacksburg, which I 
would say were reared not far distant, either in our State 
