Birds - White-breasted Nuthatch

( Originally Published 1904 )

(Sitta carolinensis) Nuthatch family

Called also : TREE-MOUSE ; DEVIL DOWNHEAD

Length-5.5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English sparrow.

Male and Female—Upper parts slate-color. Top of head and nape black. Wings dark slate, edged with black, that fades to brown. Tail feathers brownish black, with white bars. Sides of head and underneath white, shading to pale reddish under the tail. (Female's head leaden.) Body flat and compact. Bill longer than head.

Range—British provinces to Mexico. Eastern United States. Migrations—October. April. Common resident. Most prominent in winter.

" Shrewd little haunter of woods all gray,
Whom I meet on my walk of a winter day—
You're busy inspecting each cranny and hole
In the ragged bark of yon hickory bole ;
You intent on your task, and I on the law
Of your wonderful head and gymnastic claw !

The woodpecker well may despair of this feat
Only the fly with you can compete !
So much is clear ; but I fain would know
How you can so reckless and fearless go,
Head upward, head downward, all one to you,
Zenith and nadir the same in your view? "

—Edith M. Thomas.

Could a dozen lines well contain a fuller description or more apt characterization of a bird than these " To a Nuthatch " ?

With more artless inquisitiveness than fear, this lively little acrobat stops his hammering or hatcheting at your approach, and stretching himself out from the tree until it would seem he must fall off, he peers down at you, head downward, straight into your upturned opera-glasses. If there is too much snow on the upper side of a branch, watch how he runs along underneath it like a fly, busily tapping the bark, or adroitly breaking the decayed bits with his bill, as he searches for the spider's eggs, larvae, etc., hidden there; yet somehow, between mouthfuls, managing to call out his cheery quank! quank ! hank ! hank !