28 Birds Every Child Should Know 
Although this tool is a great help to the nut- 
hatches in making their nests, they appear to be 
quite as ready to accept a deserted woodpecker’s 
hole as the chickadee with a smaller bill. A 
natural cavity will answer, or, if they must, 
they will make one in some forest tree. The 
red-breasted nuthatches have a curious habit 
of smearing the entrance to the hole with fir- 
balsam or pitch. Why do you suppose they do 
it? Perhaps they think this will discourage egg 
suckers, like snakes, mice, or squirrels; but, 
in effect, the sticky gum often pulls the feathers 
from their own breasts as they go in and out 
attending to the wants of their family. 
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET 
Count that a red-letter day on your calendar 
when first you see either this tiny, dainty sprite, 
or his next of kin, the golden-crowned kinglet, 
fluttering, twinkling about the evergreens. In 
republican America we don’t often have the 
chance to meet two crowned heads. Ener- 
getic as wrens, restless as warblers, and as per- 
petually looking for insect food, the kinglets flit 
with a sudden, jerking motion from twig to 
twig among the trees and bushes, now on the 
lawn, now in the orchard and presently in the 
hedgerow down the lane. They have a pretty 
