Birds. 



6745 



the wing of a different shape, there can be no doubt of its being 

 a distinct species, though Wilson seems to hesitate in pronouncing it 

 to be so, for he remarks, vol. ii. p. 203, " BufTon's Torchepot de la 

 Canada is either a young bird of the present species (Redbellied 

 blackcapped nuthatch) in its imperfect plumage, or a different sort 

 that rarely visits the United States, probably the latter, as the tail and 

 the head appear of the same bluish gray or lead-colour as the back. 

 The young birds of this species (redbellied), it may be observed, have 

 also the crown of a lead-colour during the first season." 



In my note on the habits of the European nuthatch (Zool. 5684) I 

 remarked : — "The bill, although undoubtedly strong, I should not at 

 first sight have considered sufficiently so either to have perforated or 

 cracked a nut, unless it had been so stated on the best authority ; 

 besides, if constantly used in drilling holes through nuts, it would ne- 

 cessarily have become, I should have thought, in some degree blunted 

 thereby ; whereas the bills of all these birds are very acute, and the 

 upper mandible exceeding the lower in length, which seems unlikely 

 to be the case if constantly brought in contact with so hard and 

 polished a surface as that of the nut." And I am glad to find my 

 opinion corroborated by so great an authority as Wilson, who, in 

 remarking on the habits of the Carolina nuthatch, says, " The name 

 'nuthatch' has been bestowed on this family of birds from their sup- 

 posed practice of breaking nuts by repeated hatchings or hammerings 

 with their bills. Soft-shelled nuts, such as chestnuts, chinkopins 

 and hazel-nuts, they may probably be able to demolish, though I 

 have never yet seen them so engaged ; but it must be rather in search 

 of maggots that sometimes breed there than for the kernel." " From 

 the great numbers that I have opened at all seasons of the year, 

 I have every reason to believe that ants, bugs, small seeds, insects 

 and their larvae form their chief subsistence, such matters alone being 

 uniformly found in their stomachs. Neither can I see what neces- 

 sity they could have to circumambulate the trunks of trees with such 

 indefatigable and restless diligence, while bushels of nuts lav scattered 

 round their roots." Although I have skinned several, 1 omitted to 

 examine the contents of the stomachs ; but there can be no doubt of 

 their being insect-feeders, though they may occasionally amuse them- 

 selves with a nut. This bird is a tree-creeper, and closely allied to 

 the woodpecker, but the latter has the bill worn and blunted, though 

 the decayed bark and w r ood perforated cannot offer the resistance that 

 the hard and polished surface of the nut does. 



Blueeyed Yellow Warbler [Sylvia citrinella). May 9th. Saw 

 XVII. 3 K 



