1906
May 8
(No 2) 
  White-bellied Nuthatches have frequented the elms and orchard
on the Barrett farm through the past three breeding seasons but I
have never succeeded in finding a nest. This spring I saw the 
pair together on several occasions early in April but after
the middle of the month the male usually appeared alone
spending most of the day in the big elms about the house.
Indeed I did not once see the female between April 13 and May 5.
On the latter day both birds were feeding together in the elms.
They were there again this morning when I noticed that the
female showed much interest in the numerous holes in these old
trees, entering several of them. The male twice approached and fed her
just after she had emerged from a hole which I thought
might contain the nest. About 2 P.M., however, I found
the female hard at work removing an old Squirrel's nest from a
hole in an oak in the grove behind the barn. She
labored ceaselessly bringing out the fine, shredded inner bark
that the Red Squirrels use for their nests in tufts almost 
as large as her own body and scattering them with the help
 of the wind. Some of the shreds clung to the trunk
& these she picked off one by one and tossed outward.
After working a long time in this way she began going over the
outer bark of the tree near the hole with her bill in the
most curious manner. She swung her head from side to side
rapidly & vigorously with long, wide sweeps just touching the
bark at each stroke. This was kept up at intervals for ten
minutes or more. What she was doing it for I could not imagine
I could see nothing on the bark even with the aid of
my glass. She worked with feverish energy. The male also
seemed strangely excited coming close about her & quivering 
his wings. He fed her repeatedly with small grubs which she
instantly swallowed. He entered the hole several times but did
nothing there as far as I could see.
Nuthatches begin work on nest