Gtoaeral Notes. 



Nesting of the Red-bellied Nuthatch in Templeton, Mass.— On the 

 morning of June lo, 1894, while walking through the woods with my 

 nephew on the banks of Otter River in Templeton, and having for an object 

 anything new or interesting, with an especial 'leaning' towards birds' 

 nests, we came to an old stub about fifteen feet high. Following my 

 usual custom in such cases I pounded vigorously to see if any one was 

 "at home." I was surprised to see a Red-bellied Nuthatch {Sitta 

 canadensis) fly from the stub and perch on a hemlock limb withih six 

 feet of my face and remain therefor some minutes, giving me abundant 

 opportunity to positively identify her. 



I immediately climbed the stub and found a hole which, had I been as 

 familiar with the breeding habits of the Nuthatch as I have since become, 

 I would have recognized at once as belonging to this species. The lower 

 half of the circumference of the hole was thickly smeared with pitch, 

 which seemed such a strange circumstance that I tore that portion of the 

 wood away whole and passed it carefully down to my nephew and we 

 brought it home. I thought at first that the pitch must have dripped 

 from some wounded limb overhead but there was none there, and the 

 stub was perfectly dry and very much decayed; therefore it must have 

 been brought there by the bird for some purpose doubtless well under- 

 stood by her, but, so far as I can learn, to no one else. 



The hole was about 12 feet from the ground, on the side towards the 

 river (north), and directly over the water where the river widens out into 

 a shallow, weedy lake of perhaps twenty acres in extent. It was about 

 i4 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep, running down just inside the 

 hard shell of the stub. The nest was simply a handful! of what appears 

 to be fine shreds of inner bark of the dead branch of some tree, 

 and fine bark from weeds. There was no attempt at weaving, but the 

 depression was apparently shaped by the body of the bird. It was so 

 loosely constructed that I was obliged to carry it home carefully in my 

 hand for fear it would come to pieces. The nest contained three perfectly 

 fresh eggs, agreeing with the description given by various authors of 

 those of this Nuthatch ; also two young birds apparently two days old and 

 larger than young of the Red-bellied Nuthatch could possibly be at that 

 age. What could the youngsters be.? Surely not Nuthatches, and it did 

 not seem possible that a Cowbird could gain access to the nest, even if 

 she were disposed to try. The place and situation of the hole is just 

 where we would expect to find the White-bellied Swallow breeding, and 

 this led me to think that in some way the claims to the hole were some- 

 what mixed between these two birds- 



I immediately wrote to Mr. William Brewster, and at his request sent 

 him one of the young birds, which I had preserved in spirit, for examina- 

 tion. Mr. Brewster writes: "Your youngster is positively not a Cow- 

 bird. It differs from my specimen of the latter (two days old) in having 

 a much wider head and gape, a more depressed bill, shorter tibiae, and in 

 many other essential respects. I have not been able to get at any 

 young Swallows, but your bird looks to me like- a young White-bellied 

 Swallow, and I am very sure that is what it will turn out to be." 



At Mr. Brewster's suggestion I sent it to Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, who 

 also kindly interested himself in the case, but failing to get a young 

 Swallow for comparison, owing to the lateness of the season when the 

 bird was sent to him, he was unable to positively identify it but expressed 

 himself as very confident that it is a White-bellied Swallow. 



It would be interesting to know the exact relations between these two 

 birds. The logical conclusion would seem to be that the Swallow was the 

 first occupant and had succeeded in laying two eggs when she was routed 

 or crowded out by the Nuthatch, who retained possession and uninten- 

 tionally, perhaps, hatched the eggs of the Swallow while laying her own 

 eggs, and the youngsters, either with or without -the aid of their foster- 

 mother, worked their way up through the loose material of the nest. 

 Yet one is left to wonder which parent fed them, or if they were fed at 

 all. — Charles E. Ingalls, East Templeton, Mass. 



Ank XI. Oct. 1894 p. 881-832 



