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Range (Eastern North America breeds) (XXXXXVII)

Eastern North America; breeds from the Gulf States to Minnesota and New Brunswick; generally resident throughout its range. Washington, common T. V. and W. V., less common S. R. Sing Sing, common P. R. Cambridge, P. R., rare in summer, uncommon in winter, common in migrations; most numerous in Oct. and Nov. Nest, of feathers, leaves, etc., in a hole in a tree or stump. Eggs, five to eight, white or creamy white, thickly and rather evenly spotted and speckled with rufous and lavender, 75 x 57.

When the cares of a family devolve upon him, the Nuthatch eschews all society and rarely ventures far from his forest home. But in the winter I believe even the birds are affected by the oppressive loneliness; the strangers of summer become for a time boon companions, and we find Downy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, and Nuthatches wandering about the woods or visiting the orchards on apparently the best of terms.

Few birds are easier to identify: the Woodpecker pecks, the Chickadee calls "chickadee," while the Nuthatch, running up and down the tree trunks, assumes attitudes no bird outside his family would think of attempting. His powers of speech are in no wise disturbed by his often inverted position, and he accompanies his erratic clamberings by a conversational twitter or occasionally a loud, nasal yank, yank, which frequently tells us of his presence before we see him.

He is not too absorbed in his business to have a mild interest in yours, and he may pause a moment to look you over in a calm kind of way, which somehow makes one feel that perhaps, after all, Nuthatches are of as much importance as we. But his curiosity is soon satisfied; affairs are evidently pressing, and with a yank, yank, he resumes his NUTHATCHES AND TITS. search for certain tidbits in the shape of grubs or insects' eggs hidden in the bark.

There is such a lack of sentiment in the Nuthatch's character, he seems so matter-of-fact in all his ways, that it is difficult to imagine him indulging in anything like song. But even he can not withstand the all-conquering influences of spring, and at that season he raises his voice in a peculiar monotone-a tenor hah-hah-hah-hah-hahsounding strangely like mirthless laughter. 727b. S. c. atkinsi Scott. FLORIDA WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. - Similar to the preceding, but somewhat smaller, the wing-coverts and quills but slightly or not at all tipped with whitish, the with the top of the head and nape black, as in the 8. W., 3.32; T., 1.80; B., 70. lina.

Range.--Florida, northward on the Atlantic coast to southern South Caro- 728. Sitta canadensis Linn. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. Ad. 8.- Top of the head and a wide stripe through the eye to the nape shining black; a white line over the eye; upper parts bluish gray; no black marks on the secondaries; outer tail-feathers black, with white patches near their tips; middle ones bluish gray; throat white; rest of the under parts ochraceous-buff or rufous.

Ad. 2.-Similar, but the top of the head and stripe through the eye bluish gray, like the back; under parts paler. L., 4.62; W., 2.66; T., 1.58; B., 50.

Range.-North America; breeds from Manitoba and Maine north ward, and southward along the Alleghanies to North Carolina; winters from about the southern limit of its breeding range to the Gulf States.

FIG. 113.- Red-breasted