(!&) 
1911 
March 17 
Nuthatches 
caohe-ing 
small pieces 
of suet . 
The male 
gives them 
to the 
female 
to carry off . 
CONCORD* 
| Despite the improvement in the weather, I saw 
~~ wintering 
and heard only a very few birds and these all of 
3e2s±ajog kinds. I listened in vain for Bluebirds and there 
were only two Juncos at the suet bed. I wonder if the 
terrific blizzard of yesterday did not kill a good many 
birds .1 
The pair of Nuthatches came regularly to the 
suet, oftenest in the early morning. I watched them closely 
for half an hour this morning. The male was digging out 
pieces up to the size of a large pea and carrying them away 
to store them in crevices in tree trunks and behind scales 
of loose bark. He took them to different trees and in all 
directions, usually going about 100 yards. Whenever the 
female was with or near him, he invariably employed her to 
carry off and cache the morsel. She took it from him 
without hesitation and fie?;, as he did, in various direc¬ 
tions, chiefly to apple trees in the orchard. Curiously 
enough he would not permit her to touch the main store of 
supply from which he was drawing. Whenever she attempted 
to do so, he attacked her quite viciously and drove her 
away. Yet the next moment he would give her the small 
pieces that he had just extracted. 
