The White-breasted Nuthatches 
The male is a devoted father, feeding the female incessantly during 
incubation, and sharing with her in the care of the large family, long 
after many birds have forgotten their young. The young birds early 
learn to creep up to the mouth of the nesting hole to receive food when 
their turn comes; and they are said to crawl about the parental tree for 
some days before they 
attempt flight. 
While the Slender- 
billed Nuthatch is 
mildly indifferent to the 
presence of man on or¬ 
dinary occasions, it 
becomes exceedingly 
wary at nesting time. 
The mother of the bird- 
lings here shown nearly 
wore out our patience 
with her eternal suspi¬ 
cions. She was not long 
in making the first at¬ 
tempt, but she “swapped 
ends” an incredible num¬ 
ber of times before she 
actually dived into the 
nesting crevice; and she 
was out in a trice, having 
had time merely to jab 
her burden down the 
nearest throat. Once 
outside, she hesitated not a little, as knowing full well that she had another 
duty to perform. But she concluded it was less important, after all, and 
went off without removing an excrement. Four successive times she did 
this, judging that digestion was more to the present need than sanitation. 
The fifth time she went into the hole resolutely, as having made up her 
mind that duty must be done whether or no, and as resolutely she returned 
to bear off an enormous foecal envelope with its contents. I snapped her at 
this, and she never forgave me for the indignity. Only once again in two 
hours did she attempt sanitary work. Although we were twenty-five feet 
away, this Nuthatch flinched as often as she heard the shutter roar, and it 
invariably set her back a minute or so in her progress. Once she deserted 
outright, and she must have eaten the food intended for her babies, for 
she was a long time gone. 
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