The White-Bellied Nuthatch a 

 Friend of the Farmer. 3^, 



At this time of the year when the cocoons 

 of the tent caterpillar are to be seen on every 

 farm the Wliite-bellied Nuthatch is particu- 

 larly useful, destroying as it does large num- 

 bers of these cocoons. Tearing them from 

 their fastenings they drag them along the 

 rough bark of the tree until they catch, then 

 pulling at them, and in this way tear off all the 

 outer covering of the chrysalis, which they 

 devour with apparent relish. These together 

 with the numerous other insects which go to 

 make up their daily food particularly recom- 

 mend them for protection on the farm. 

 I iS. B. Ingersoll. 



i Ballston Spa, N. Y. 



"Wmter Notes from Stephento'wn, N.T, 



Indeed extermination has advanced rap- 

 idly during the past ten years. Last fall 

 I stood a sunflower stalk, crowned by a \ 

 \ mammoth seed head, up against the crotch 

 I of one of the apple trees in the yard, and 

 for about a month a pair of White-breasted 

 Nuthatches have made daily visits to the 

 yard to feed on the seeds. They are get- 

 ting quite tame, and will come to the 

 stalk for seeds when I am standing so near 

 I could touch them with my hand. After 

 picking out a seed they fly to a large elm 

 twenty feet away, stick it into a crevice 

 of the rough bark, and then hammer it 

 open with their bill, devouring the con- 

 tents, seemingly, with great gusto and a 

 profusion of Nuthatch talk. 

 \ I noticed last winter that the Nuthatches 

 i did not eat all of the seeds which they 

 i carried to the big elm, but left many 

 ' wedged in the crevices of the bark. I 

 found later that they had a purpose in 

 doing this, as they made frequent visits to 

 the tree to feed on them until along into 

 the summer. 



O.ife O.Vol.18, Jan. 1898 p. 12 



-N. 9. There have been but few days tl- 

 not seen one or two W liU.e-bi 

 hatches. {Sitta carol: 

 around the larger branches o! 



inter I have 



iuy up or down and 

 of locust trees in front 



the parsonage on the village street. To-day, from my 

 study window, I witnessed an interesting performance of 

 one of these birds— not three yards from me, it its effort to 

 break a small particle of matter, of the size and shape of a 

 butter-bean, it had picked up from the ground. Its posi- 

 tion was on an oblique limb ; holding the substance in its 

 bill it would strike it two or three times against the limb 

 and then momentarily lodge it, repeating the performance 

 perhaps a dozen times. The curious thing about it was its 

 ability to lodge at will, and with such rapidity, that bit of 

 matter on a limb sloping, perhaps, at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees, without the aid of its feet and with nothing but a 

 slight nnevenness of bark to hold it. This would require 

 the steadiest nerve of a man to do, if he could do it at all. 



O.&O. IX.Mar.l884.p,3»" 



, Feb. 12. Day stormy. Went out to Highland 

 ' ' Park. Only saw two White-breasted Nut- 

 hatches. This bird is common here through- 

 out the year. The only nest I ever found was 

 in a decayed tree stumji in the most uninviting 

 I *^ and gloomy part of a large woods. The eggs, 

 _ seven in number, were of a handsome white 

 3 ^ color, covered thickly with line spots of light 

 ^ '§i ^bi'own. It is called Sapsucker here, as it is 

 |Vsaid to bore holes in trees and suck the sap as 

 « it^^it oozes out. Now if it does bore into trees 

 \ ^ while feeding (a tiling I have never seen it do), 

 I ^'^'t i** probably to secure insects concealed in 

 fl 5^'^tlie wood. It is a very restless and active 

 jS^little bird and for boldness and sauciness is 

 ^o^rivalled only by the Chickadee, often allowing 

 the observer to approach within a few feet.' 

 of it. 



Notes- Winter Birds, Milwaukee County 

 Wisconsin. C. A. Keeler, Berkley, Cal. 



White-breasted Nuthutch, 8itta oarolinensis. 

 Very conuiion all winter. A few winters ago 

 a pair remained in the neighborhood of a farm- 

 er's house for several months. The owner was 

 in the habit of putting bread crumbs and oats 

 ._j in exposed situations for them. The bread 

 crumbs were always eaten on the spot, but the 

 oats were stored in nooks and crevices in the 

 ' back of oak trees. I have also known this 

 species to feed on frozen thorn apples, when 

 i other food was scarce, swallowing them entire. 



O.&O. XIII. Jan. 1888 P.I2 



