COMMON BIRDS : SECOND SERIES. 
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far off, under or in some low bush. The nest is built of strips of 
bark and leaves, and is never far above the ground. The eggs are 
four or five, whitish covered with many light-brown markings. 
Insects and fruit constitute the food of the Thrasher. Many 
individuals linger well into October, and winter in the Southern 
States. The Thrashers when alarmed utter a loud chuck, a hissing 
or puffing note, like a reptile’s, a loud sound like a smack, and a 
long, whistled whew. Their song is justly ranked among the best, 
as far as brilliant execution is concerned. It lacks the sweetness 
that the true Thrushes possess, but excels in vigor and variety. 
The Thrashers do not frequent the neighborhood of man as the 
Catbirds do, and rarely pilfer in the garden. They keep to their 
own wild, fearless life, but if they should diminish, the lovers of 
early spring would miss them sadly. 
White-bellied Nuthatch. 4. 
[SITTA CAROLINENSIS.] 
No one can fail to recognize a Nuthatch. No other bird has 
the short, broad figure, and the habit of travelling head downward 
on the trunks or large limbs of trees. In winter, the Nuthatch 
makes one of the band of small birds that visits the village and 
dooryard trees, and if suet or bone is hung to a tree near the 
house, the bird may be attracted, and become a regular and fre¬ 
quent visitor. The Nuthatch, like the Chickadee, is resident; in 
spring it seeks a deserted woodpecker’s hole, and here, in a mass of 
soft materials, such as wool, feathers, and hair, the bird lays from 
seven to nine eggs, beginning toward the end of April. The eggs 
are white, coarsely spotted with reddish. After the young are 
hatched and out, small parties may often be met with, hunting over 
the trees, the parents probing under the bark with their long bills for 
insects, their eggs, or their larvae. This life is now followed till the 
next spring, — a life spent wholly on the limbs or trunks of trees. 
Only occasionally does a Nuthatch visit the ground, or perch 
