36 
SITTA CABOLINENSIS. 
DESCRIPTION OF NEST AND EGGS. 
The following is a description of a nest and eggs taken by Mr. Brewster at Cambridge. 
Nest built in the hole of a tree, and composed of fine grasses lined with hair or feathers. It is shallow; being 
about one inch in depth and four in diameter. 
Eggs usually six in number; creamy-white in color, spotted and blotched irregularly with pale reddish-brown and 
lilac. In the specimens before me, which were kindly loaned me by Mr Brewster, the spots form a ring around the 
larger end. Dimensions, from •TO'X'57 to ’83x'60. 
HABITS. 
If there were ever harlequins among birds, they are the White-bellied Nuthatches ; for while 
they are on the trees, searching for insects, they are constantly assuming all the positions 
imaginable. They will climb quickly up the trunk, after the manner of the Woodpeckers, 
peering right aud left, then will suddenly commence a retrograde movement, which is checked 
abruptly as the birds seize upon some beetle, when, without an instant’s pause, they will reverse 
themselves and back upwards, proceeding as agilely as if moving head foremost. In a few 
seconds they will stop, raise their heads, glance about while sounding their harsh notes, then 
launch into air, alighting upon the lower side of a limb, and will glide along it as nimbly as if 
upon the upper part. Thus they are ever in motion, and always changing their attitudes in an 
easy and graceful manner, but do not have the quick nervous movements of the Brown-headed 
and Red-bellied Nuthatches, but perform their evolutions more steadily. 
These birds may be found in the orchard as well as in the woods but, although by no means 
rare, it is not usual to meet with many in a single day. They appear to live in pairs, apart 
from their fellows, associating with the Warblers or Titmice; and I can recall but few instances 
where I have found more than two in one locality at the same time. Then the birds seemed to 
have met by accident and probably would not have remained together for any length of time. 
The White-bellied Nuthatches, like the preceding species, are great wanderers during winter, 
but remain in one locality when the breeding season approaches. I think their eggs are laid by 
the last of April for I have seen fully fledged young by June 1st. The nest from which they 
came was built in the hole of an old stub, and was situated about twenty feet above the ground. 
This tree had evidently been used as a nesting place for some time, for there were several other 
openings which had, in all probability, been occupied in previous years. The female is very 
unsuspicious while incubating, or her affections for her eggs overcome her fears, for she will 
permit herself to be handled at such times without attempting to escape. Mr. Brewster having 
discovered a nest in a partly decayed apple tree, enlarged the entrance, that he might introduce 
his hand, and remove the bird. She struggled vigorously to escape but, as soon as she 
was liberated, returned to her eggs. She was taken out several times but invariably entered her 
domicile the moment she regained her freedom. Even when thrown into the air she did not fly 
away, and when Mr. Brewster went away she was on the nest. This species usually construct 
their edifice in dead trees or stubs, but my friend, Mr. Harold Herrick, of New York, informed 
me that he knew of a pair which built their nest in the walls of an inhabited dwelling, having 
found an entrance through a knot hole in a clapboard, which was situated beneath the eaves. 
The White-bellied Nuthatches are constant residents in New England, but only winter visitors 
to Florida. Those which go south migrate quite early in the season, generally during the latter 
part of October. On the 30th of this month I was on a steamer bound for Savannah, and when 
fifty miles off the coast of Virginia we were visited by a male of this species. He alighted on 
the deck at first apparently exhausted but, after resting a short time, recovered, when he 
commenced climbing about the rigging and running up and down the masts in search of food 
performing his gymnastic feats with as much agility as in his native woods; he remained on 
board until night but I could not find him the next morning. Their food consists principally 
of insects but they will sometimes eat acorns. 
