THE BLUE J A Y. 73 



row. Great care is shown these younglings by the parents 

 in training them to creep and flj^^ and in feeding them most 

 assiduously till quite mature. Indeed, the whole family 

 seem not infrequently to remain together throughout the 

 first year. 



THE RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



Very similar to the above in appearance and habit is the 

 Red-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), except that it is 

 quite a little smaller, scarcely five inches long, has a white 

 line over the eye, and the under parts of a pale rust-red. 

 The female has the black about the head replaced with dark 

 slate or dusky. The notes of this species are on a little 

 higher key than those of Carolinensis, and its nest and 

 eggs are precisely like those of the Chickadee. It is north- 

 erly, passing through New York State late in April and 

 early in May, and again in September and October. Its 

 breeding habitat begins in the northern parts of the State, 

 extending through northern New England and into the 

 British Provinces. 



The little Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilld), some 

 4.25 long and differentiated by its elegant brown head and 

 white spot on the nape, is a resident of the Southern States. 

 There the sunny pine forests echo its note — "each, each, 

 each" — its nesting and habits in general being quite similar 

 to those of our Nuthatches above described. 



THE BLUE JAY. 



The thermometer continues near zero. Large windows 

 are now truly objects of beauty, their frosted patterns being 

 inimitable. The larger figures remind one of ferns, or forest 

 trees in miniature; some are like thin snow-flakes of varied 

 size and pattern, some like delicate lines fringed mostly at 

 right angles; others are simply granulated with exquisitely 



