IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
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but well concealed. His song has a care free merry ring to it which goes well 
with the character of the singer. 
'White-Breasted Nut-Hatch. Though excelled as contortionists by the parrots, 
the nut-hatches stand in a class by themselves, — our recognized bird acrobats, 
running head downward down a tree on the under side of a limb, using only 
their feet as means of support and never their tails as do the woodpeckers and 
creepers. This white-breasted cousin of the chickadee reminds one often of 
our little black-capped friend, staying with us all the year and showing many 
of the jolly, sociable characteristics of his irrepressible cousin. His nest is 
much like that of the chickadee except that the hole which he uses is excavated 
by the nut-hatch himself, and is not a natural cavity or an old excavation. In 
winter the nut-hatches are often found with flocks of titmice and kinglets, and 
are of our most beneflcial birds, destroying thousands of scale insects and eggs 
of larger ones. 
Red-Breasted Nut-Hatch. What has been said of the preceding species can 
be said of this except that as a rule, in this part of Iowa, the red-breasted 
one is^much shyer and more retiring than the white-breasted. The red-breasted 
species is really rather rare in Polk county the past few years, though in some 
parts of the state it is more frequently found than the white-breasted. 
Gat Bird. The cat-bird, one of the tamest of our native birds, is a true 
mocker, but he also has a song of his own that is full of rolling melody, only 
slightly inferior to that of the brown thrasher. Prom early May until October 
or November he may be found in and about the gardens and orchards, stealing 
fruit sometimes, but always eating insects. His nest is built in a bush or 
small tree, and looks much like the thrush’s but lacks the mud. The cat-bird 
winters in the southern states and Central America. 
Brown Thrasher. Prom the time of his arrival about the last week of April 
till -the last week of June, the thrasher is the most enthusiastic songster we 
have. Por the first week or two, there is a continuous flow of almost uninter- 
rupted song. Then begins the nesting period. The music does not stop, how- 
ever, but continues at intervals every day until the last of June. 
Though not quite so common or sociable as the cat-bird, it is a well known 
bird in the spring, seen frequently at midday on the topmost twig of a tall 
tree, pouring out his soul to the great wmrld about. Its habits, though confined 
more to the light wmods, are very much like the cat-bird’s. Its stay here ends 
early in October, when it leaves for winter quarters in the southern states. 
House Wren. These busy little bodies, the children’s favorites, arrive usually 
about April 15th and stay until the first week in October, during which time 
three nests are built and three broods raised. The nest is built in corners 
about houses, barns and outbuildings, in old shoes, mittens, cans, boxes, and 
indeed anything that can be made cozy when nearly filled with sticks and 
straw. 
The wren, being so small, hardly suggests its relationship to the cat-bird 
and brown thrasher except by his busy habits and the joyous manner of his 
singing all the day through. 
The house wren’s winters are spent in the southern states and Mexico. 
Long-Billed Marsh Wren. A bird of moist meadows and reedy swamps, we 
find this fellow nearly as jolly and fearless as the house wren itself. He 
builds his nest and lives in places not easily accessible by man. 
