590 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
Red-breasted Nuthatch : Sitta canadensis. W. R. 
Length: 4.50-475 inches. 
Male: Above lead-colored, brownish on wings and tail. Crown and 
sides of neck black. White stripe over eye, meeting on brow. 
Under parts rust-red. Bill dark lead-color, feet lead-brown. 
Female: Paler, crown and back of one color. 
Song: Note — “ Day-day-day-dait ! ” 
Season: A winter resident in Connecticut, but seen most frequently in 
early spring and late autumn. 
This species, like the preceding, and the whole family, 
in fact, walk head down around the trunks of trees, and often 
roost in this singular fashion. Their bright coloring makes 
them particularly noticeable among the leafless trees. They 
come about the garden every spring, but more particularly in 
late November, when I have noted them in numbers; they 
search the bark of the orchard trees, at this time, with all the 
care of the Kinglets. Notwithstanding, this species does not 
seem to be considered by some authorities a common bird in 
Connecticut. 
Possibly they favor me because of the reputation of the 
lunch counter in the apple tree. 
Family Certhiidae: Creepers 
Brown Creeper: Certhia familiaris americana, W. V. 
Plate III Fig. 2 
Length: 5.50 inches. 
Male and Female: Above brown and ashy- white striped, the brown 
being of several shades, growing more red on rump. Tail pale 
brown. Throat, breast, and belly grayish white. Slender, curv- 
ing bill, black above, yellowish below. Feet brown. 
Song: Wild and sweet, but difficult of syllabication. Call note short 
and lisping. 
Season: Winter resident, common from September to April. 
The Brown Creeper is one of the tree-trunk birds that, to- 
gether with the Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, are chiefly to 
be seen when prying their food from the crevices of the bark. 
The Creeper is the most difficult to observe of them all, for 
his coloring is a mixture of browns and grays that blend with 
the bark upon which he rests. 
He has a very peculiar way of going up the tree-trunk, as 
if ascending a spiral staircase and then flitting backward to the 
bottom and climbing all over again. 
