J76 THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



degree of liveliness, which distinguish it at once from other birds. Now 

 and then it has a quaint look, if I may so speak, while watching the observer, 

 clinging to the bark head downward, and perhaps only a few feet distant 

 from him whom it well knows to be its enemy, or at least not its friend, for 

 many farmers, not distinguishing between it and the Sap-sucker, ( Picus 

 pubescens,) shoot at it, as if assured that they are doing a commendable 

 action. 



During the breeding season, the affection which this bird ordinarily shews 

 to its species, is greatly increased. Two of them may be seen busily 

 engaged in excavating a hole for their nest in the decayed portion of the 

 trunk or branch of a tree, all the time congratulating each other in the 

 tenderest manner. The male, ever conspicuous on such occasions, works in 

 earnest, and carries off the slender chips, chiselled by the female. He struts 

 around her, peeps into the hole, chirrups at intervals, or hovers about her on 

 the wing. While she is sitting on her eggs, he seldom absents himself many 

 moments; now with a full bill he feeds her, now returns to be assured that 

 her time is pleasantly spent. 



When the young come from the egg, they are fed with unremitting care. 

 They now issue from their wooden cave, and gently creep around its 

 aperture. There, while the genial rays of the summer's sun give vigour to 

 their tender bodies, and enrich their expanding plumage, the parents, faithful 

 guardians to the last, teach them how to fly, to ascend the tree with care, 

 and at length to provide for their own wants. Ah! where are the moments 

 which I have passed, in the fulness of ecstacy, contemplating the progress of 

 these amiable creatures! Alas! they are gone, those summer days of hope 

 and joy are fled, and the clouds of life's winter are mustering in their gloomy 

 array. 



This species breeds twice in the year, in the Southern and Middle States; 

 seldom more than once to the eastward of New York. In the State of 

 Maine, they work at their nest late in May; in Nova Scotia not until June. 

 Farther north I did not find them. Sometimes they are contented with the 

 hole bored by any small Wookpecker, or even breed in the decayed hollow 

 of a tree or fence. The eggs, five or six in number, are dull white, spotted 

 with brown at the larger end. They are laid on detached particles of wood. 



The notes of the White-breasted Nuthatch are remarkable on account of 

 their nasal sound. Ordinarily they resemble the monosyllables hank, hank, 

 kdnk, kdnk; but now and then in the spring, they emit a sweeter kind of 

 chirp, whenever the sexes meet, or when they are feeding their young. 



Its flight is rapid, and at times rather protracted. If crossing a river or a 

 large field, they rise high, and proceed with a tolerably regular motion; but 

 when passing from one tree to another, they form a gently incurvated sweep. 



