NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 159 



setting, the female left the nest a great many times, and once she stayed off 

 during a thunder shower, but probably she had some good reason for it. 

 During this period I never saw the male near the nest, and he was easily 

 distinguished by his call note. 



On the eighteenth of June, two of the young ones appeared, and on the 

 following day the remaining two chipped the shell. When they were large 

 enough to be fed, the female went to and fro all day getting them insects, 

 the male never fed them, but stayed near the tree and chased off other birds. 

 About June 21, the young ones opened their eyes. To-day, June 30, I 

 went up to see the nest and three of the young ones flew out. I found 

 some crickets in the nest. 



NESTING OF THE WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH IN NEWTON. 



BY 



Theodore Parker. 



(Read before the Maynard Chapter of the Newton Natural History Society, 



June, 23, 1899.) 



On May 10, I found a nest of a white-bellied nuthatch in an apple 

 tree six feet from the ground. The way I found it was by seeing the male 

 nuthatch fly up to this hole with an insect in his mouth. I climbed up and 

 found there were young birds in the nest. They were only a few days old 

 as they had no feathers and their eyes were not open. I found that the 

 male nuthatch almost always brings a small gray moth to the female. One 

 time the male brought a moth for the female, but she was not in the nest. 

 He went inside the hole and then came out again with the moth still in his 

 bill. He did not seem to know what to do, and he went in again. Then 

 he came out with the moth still in his beak and ate it himself. 



The female was very much more shy than the male, and would not 

 come to the nest while I was around, but the male would come any time 

 he wanted to. 



On May 23rd, I found that the young birds had their feathers on, and 

 one young bird was climbing up the side of the nest. On May 26, I found 

 that three young birds had flown, and there was only one left. As I jumped 

 from the tree to the ground, I frightened a young nuthatch that was on one 

 of the limbs of the tree. He flew to the ground and I caught him. The 

 mother bird came around and spread her wings and flew very near me, but 

 she soon flew away. At night the other young bird was still in the nest, 

 but the next morning he was gone. 



