The Nuthatches 
235 
ng like a Woodpecker and making the chips of bark fly. When in a 
wecarious position on the under side of a limb the bird held itself by 
:eeping its legs stretched far apart and its claws firmly anchored to the 
ough bark, the large hooked hind claw apparently doing most of the 
vork. The birds kept up a lively conversation as they worked, and now 
Liid then looked off while clinging head downward, assuming that quaint 
)Osture so characteristic of their kind ; finally they 
lew away with a whir of wings and an undulating ^*Range”^ 
light, and I returned to my desk by the window. 
Although the breeding- range of the White-breasted Nuthatch is 
drtually coincident with its entire range, it seems to be somewhat 
nigratory in its habits, and probably breeds most numerously in the 
lorthern part, and does not winter in any numbers much farther north 
han Massachusetts. 
THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 
To those who know it the Red-breasted Nuthatch is dear out of 
ill proportion to its size and its musical attainments. It is livelier than its 
t)ig cousin, and prettier in its markings, and there is something partic- 
ularly fetching about its quaint little form. It is even less of a songster 
than the White-breasted species, for prolongations and repetitions of its 
:all-note seem to be all it has that can pass for a song. This call-note 
:an be rendered as dap. It is nasal, like that of the White-breasted Nut- 
hatch, but much higher in pitch, more drawling, and lacks the r. It has 
been happily likened to the sound of a tiny trumpet or tin horn. 
The habits of the Red-breasted Nuthatch are so like those of the 
White-breasted that much that I have said about that species is applicable 
to this. The most striking difference is in the favorite haunts of the 
two birds, the Red-breasted preferring the coniferous woods, or mixed 
woods that contain a large proportion of evergreens. In those winters 
when they are found in southern New England they come freely to the 
neighborhood of man’s dwellings and feed familiarly on the supplies pro- 
vided for the winter birds, but even there they show their partiality for 
coniferous trees. They are particularly fond of the seeds of pines and 
spruces, so that they are much more vegetarian than 
their White-breasted cousins. They have the same th^^edbreast 
habit of hiding their savings in cracks and crevices. 
This Nuthatch does eat insect-food, however, and may often be 
seen hopping up and down the trunks and over the branches of trees. It 
feeds among the small branches and twigs more than its cousin ; and, 
according to W. B. Barrows, in his “Michigan Bird Life,” is often seen 
investigating tufts of dead leaves of deciduous trees. If this latter habit 
is a well-developed one, the bird should be useful in destroying nests of 
the brown-tail moth. 
The Red-breasted Nuthatch excavates its nesting-hole usually in 
dead or partly decayed trees. O. W. Knight, in his book. Birds of 
Maine, says that a balsam-fir stub is the favorite tree for the purpose; 
