Sitta carolinonsis. 
Middlesox Cour.ty, Mass 
Sovoral. Very abundant tliis autumn 
Sa.w about tv/olYe 
’’ar. 8 
On 
1872 
Feb.12 
Tv/’o, a pair, kept up a coni, inual calling to one 
another in a lovr tone, many of tlio notes being so soft¬ 
ly mod ilatod tliat they v/ore audible only a fev/ yards 
Every iiovf and then the usual grating hank ’vould 
awa'^ 
bo uttered. When closely 'vatched they v^ould remain per¬ 
fectly still for a long time occasionally, hov/over, giv¬ 
ing a quick turn of the head. When I wont off to a 
little distance they soon resumed their former activity. 
I shot the female v/hen the male sho\/ed much solicitude. 
This species evidently pairs for life; with Sitta cana¬ 
densis I think this is not the case. 
1874. 
Nov,. ,9 
T\yo, evidently a pair in Watertov/ri; when one visls 
sliot the other shov/’od much concern. 
March 31 
Have seen none so far this year 
1879. 
Apr. 24 
Sa.vr one in East T'exington it must have had a iio s 
somewliere in the vicinity although I visited the local 
ty aftervrards (May 3) v^ithout finding the bird again . 
The apple orchard in v/hich it was seen, afforded many 
suitable nesting places, as the trees wore old and full 
of holes and hollow limbs. I consider this bird ex¬ 
ceedingly rare here during the breeding season. Since 
the nest y/hich I found with eggs in 1865 only three in¬ 
stance of its breeding has come to my knowledge. Of 
those the first tv/'o are positive:—A nest in Eolmont 
found by Atkinson about 1871, and one, also vrith young, 
found near the T.yman place in Waltham, by r^aynard, about 
the same year. The third case is a suppositious, " 
resting upon my seeing a male in Waverly y/oods in "^ay 
1875. 
H* c-M 
