BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
97 
Sitta canadensis. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 728. 
Red-breasted Nuthatches are abundant winter birds in coniferous 
woods. The college pines and the tract of smaller growth lying north 
of the reservoir support numbers of them every winter. Unlike their 
white-breasted cousins they rarely appear in public places, but are 
easy to find by their call notes, when they are sought. I have not 
seen them here in summer, the earliest date on which I have observed 
them in autumn being September 14. They breed in the interior of 
the state and probably do so sparingly in this vicinity. Their nest- 
ings are similar to those of the White-breasted Nuthatch. 
Parus atricapillus. Chickadee. 735. 
Chickadees are common the year round, but most abundant in win- 
ter, when numbers come from farther north. They are the leading 
spirits in each roving company of winter birds that one finds in the 
woods. They are quick and alert, take delight in teasing an owl, and 
are ready to sound the alarm at the appearance of a hawk, when their 
associates, the Nuthatches and Woodpeckers, would be as silent as 
so many sticks. Although essentially insectivorous, I have observed 
that they do not hesitate to devour such vegetable matter as bay- 
berries and seeds of poison ivy. They peck a hole in a decayed tree 
for a nest, usually near the ground, both sexes working alternately. 
One goes in and comes out directly with a chip in its bill; the instant 
the hole is vacant, the other dives in and as quickly reappears with 
another chip. After steady labor for fifteen or twenty minutes both 
go away a little while for rest and food ; but they are very industrious 
and a nest begun is soon completed. Unlike Woodpeckers, which lay 
their eggs on the bare floor of the cavity they have excavated. Chick- 
adees collect a large amount of hair with which they construct a soft, 
warm nest. While Chickadees are generally very peaceful among 
themselves, there is a week or so about the first of March when they 
are inclined to be quarrelsome. 1 presume that to be the mating 
season. 
Family SYLVIID^. 
Regulus satrapa. Golden-crowned Kinglet. 748. 
Golden-crowned Kinglets are here in varying numbers from about the 
first of October until the first of May. Some years they are common 
all winter, and again only a few remain through the season ofintensest 
cold. They frequent all kinds of trees impartially, and rarely stay 
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