72 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



Nuthatch, though rather far-fetched, is not altogether inap- 

 plicable. Holding an acorn or chestnut in a bark-crevice, 

 or in a chink of a fence-rail, it will hammer it with its sharp- 

 pointed bill till it opens up the contents. This is done, 

 however, on account of the larvae burrowing in the fruit 

 rather than for the fruit itself, for the bird is at all times 

 strictly insectivorous. Then its form and color, too, are as 

 pleasing as its movements. About six inches long, bill ^ of 

 an inch; head and bill together, about 1^ inch long; tail, 

 short; wings, long; the breadth across the shoulders giving 

 it a somewhat fiat appearance; bluish ash over the back, 

 the outer webbing of the black wings edged with the same, 

 also the two middle tail feathers; the rest black, marked 

 with white; head and back of neck in male, glossy black; 

 in the female, black and ash mixed; whole under parts and 

 sides of head, grayish- white — this bird cannot be mistaken. 

 Its long hind toe and claw must be of great service in its 

 downward movements. 



The Eastern United States and the British Provinces are 

 given as its habitat. Its nesting habits are similar to those 

 of the Chickadee; commonly on higher ground, however, 

 and the cavity chosen or excavated higher up in the stub or 

 decaying tree, sometimes as high as thirty or forty feet; the 

 eggs being a little larger and more thickly marked. 



A set of five eggs in Professor Ward's cabinet at Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., from Saratoga Springs, averages about .50 x .75 

 inch, are porcelain-white, with a few spots, or rather brush- 

 touches, of dark-greenish or ocherous-yellow, at the large 

 end — elegant! By the 9th of June I have seen the parents 

 feeding the young well able to fly. The latter strongly 

 resembled the mature female, except that the white on the 

 cheeks and sides of the neck extended further upward, leav- 

 ing the dark band over the crown and hind neck very nar- 



