WHITE-BREASTED, BLACK-CAPPED NUTHATCH. 
39 
on her ; and, from the momentary pause he makes, it is plain 
that he feels pleased to hear her reply. 
The white-breasted nuthatch is common almost every where 
in the woods of North America, and may be known, at a 
distance, by the notes, quank , quank , frequently repeated, as 
he moves, upward and down, in spiral circles, around the body 
and larger branches of the tree, probing behind the thin scaly 
bark of the white oak, and shelling off considerable pieces 
of it, in search after spiders, ants, insects, and their larvae. 
He rests and roosts with his head downwards, and appears to 
possess a degree of curiosity not common to many birds; 
frequently descending, very silently, within a few feet of the 
root of the tree where you happen to stand, stopping, head 
downward, stretching out his neck in a horizontal position, as 
if to reconnoitre your appearance ; and, after several minutes 
of silent observation, wheeling round, he again mounts, with 
fresh activity, piping his unisons as before. Strongly attached 
to his native forests, he seldom forsakes them ; and, amidst 
the rigours of the severest winter weather, his note is still 
heard in the bleak and leafless woods, and among the howling 
branches. Sometimes the rain, freezing as it falls, encloses 
every twig, and even the trunk of the tree, in a hard trans- 
parent coat or shell of ice. On these occasions I have 
observed his anxiety and dissatisfaction, at being, with diffi- 
culty, able to make his way along the smooth surface ; at these 
times generally abandoning the trees, gleaning about the 
stables, around the house, mixing among the fowls, entering 
the barn, and examining the beams and rafters, and every 
place where he may pick up a subsistence. 
The name nuthatch has been bestowed on this family of 
birds, from their supposed practice of breaking nuts by 
repeated hatchings, or hammerings with their bills. Soft 
shelled nuts, such as chestnuts, chinkopins, and hazel nuts, 
they may, probably, be able to demolish, though I have never 
yet seen them so engaged ; but it must be rather in search of 
