MY NUTHATCHES 



By MARGARET WENTWORTH LEIGHTON 



Drawings by W. E. Cram 





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HE very severe 

 winter of 1903-4 

 with its changeless 

 cold and deep, mi- 

 ni e 1 1 i n g snows 

 brought lis a host 

 of new friends, 

 many of whom have 

 remained faithful to the present day. 

 Before this time nutchatches had been 

 only book acquaintances. 



My out-of-doors restaurant, where 

 meals were served free at all hours and 

 in all weathers, had proved very popu- 

 lar among the jays, chickadees, wood- 

 peckers and sparrows. On December 

 twenty-eighth my eye was quickly 

 caught by a newcomer, looking at first 

 glance like an enlarged chickadee, with 

 his tail cut off square. A second glance, 

 however, showed that the visitor was 

 not much like my little gymnasts, the 

 titmice, though he was a first-class 

 acrobat himself. What matter if it 

 was three days late? I think he en- 

 joyed his Christmas dinner quite as 

 much as any of the winged host who 

 dined on the correct date. Suet seemed 

 to attract him more than any of the 

 other dainties set forth, though he 

 sampled the crumbs with approval. 



Generally two or three nuthatches 

 came together, and they always car- 

 ried things with a high hand, lording it 

 over any other birds that might be pa- 

 tronizing the restaurant. One would 

 bustle up with a "leave-this-table-at- 

 once" air, so that Downy or the tit- 

 mice, or even the aggressive sparrows, 

 hastily retired to wait patiently until 

 the coast should be clear again. These 

 white-breasts never kept still an in- 

 stant. They ate as if they were starv- 

 ing, even though it might be their nine- 

 teenth meal since daybreak; but birds 



live so fast and are such active crea- 

 tures they require a deal of food to 

 keep the fires of life burning briskly. 

 When the meal was finished these live- 

 ly fellows ran up and down the tree 

 trunks with surprising agility. They 

 are the only birds I have ever seen de- 

 scend the trees head foremost. What 

 a ludicrous contrast to watch the wood- 

 pecker carefully backing downwards, 

 supporting himself on his tail, and now 

 and then casting a sidewise glance to 

 see if all is safe below ! The hatches 

 had apparently never taken any notice 

 of the ears of corn tied to the oak 

 trees, but one day I saw one eyeing a 

 jay, who was chuckling delightedly as 

 he hammered the golden kernels to bits. 

 When the jay flew off with a beakful 

 of maize, the hatch evidently solilo- 

 quized thus : "If Brother Jay finds 

 that food so delicious perhaps I should 

 like it, too. Anyway, I will try and see 

 what it tastes like." So up he flew, and 

 after examining the ear on every side, 

 pecked off a kernel, which he wedged 

 into a crevice in the bark and proceed- 

 ed to "hatch" to bits with his strong 

 beak. Evidently he did not find it quite 

 such a choice tidbit as the bluecoat 

 did, for so long as there was any suet 

 or a crumb of bread to be had he did 

 not visit it again. 



When the snow became so deep that 

 I could not reach the trees I fastened 

 suet to the piazza posts and scattered 

 crumbs and grain on the railings and 

 upon a box which stood on the porch 

 beneath the window. The birds im- 

 mediately discovered the new location 

 of their dining hall, and in the course 

 of a week or two we could stand at 

 the open window while they fed within 

 two or three feet of us, the chickadees 

 and one little red-breasted hatch com 



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