This bird builds its nest early in April, in the hole of a tree, in a hollow rail in the fence, and sometimes in the wooden cornice under the eaves; and lays five eggs of a dull white, spotted with brown at the greater end. The male is extremely attentive to the female while sitting; supplying her regularly with sustenance, stopping frequently at the mouth of the hole, calling and offering her what he has brought, in the most endearing manner. Sometimes he seems to stop merely to inquire how she is, and to lighten the tedious moments with his soothing chatter. He seldom rambles far from the spot; and when danger appears, regardless of his own safety, he flies instantly to alarm her. When both are feeding on the trunk of the same tree, or of adjoining ones, he is perpetually calling on her; and, from the momentary pause he makes, it is plain that he feels pleased to hear her reply.
The white-breasted nuthatch is common almost everywhere in the woods of North America, and may be known, at a distance, by the notes, quank, quank, frequently repeated, as he moves, upward and down, in spiral circles, around the body and larger branches of the tree, probing behind the thin scaly bark of the white oak, and shelling off considerable pieces of it, in search after spiders, ants, insects, and their larvae. He rests and roosts with his head downwards, and appears to possess a degree of curiosity not common to many birds; frequently descending, very silently, within a few feet of the root of the tree where you happen to stand, stopping, head downward, stretching out his neck in a horizontal position, as if to reconnoitre your appearance; and, after several minutes of silent observation, wheeling round, he again mounts, with fresh activity, piping his unisons as before. Strongly attached to his native forests, he seldom forsakes them; and, amidst the rigours of the severest winter weather, his note is still heard in the bleak and leafless woods, and among the howling branches. Sometimes the rain, freezing as it falls, encloses every twig, and even the trunk of the tree, in a hard trans-parent coat or shell of ice. On these occasions I have observed his anxiety and dissatisfaction at being with difficulty able to make his way along the smooth surface; at these times generally abandoning the trees, gleaning about the stables, around the house, mixing among the fowls, entering the barn, and examining the beams and rafters, and every place where he may pick up a subsistence.
The name nuthatch has been bestowed on this family of birds from their supposed practice of breaking nuts by repeated hatchings, or hammerings with their bills. Soft-shelled nuts, such as chestnuts, chinkopins, and hazel nuts, they may, probably, be able to demolish, though I have never yet seen them so engaged; but it must be rather in search of maggots, that sometimes breed there, than for the kernel. It is, however said, that they lay up a large store of nuts for winter; but as I have never either found any of their magazines, or seen them collecting them, I am inclined to doubt the fact. From the great numbers I have opened at all seasons of the year, I have every reason to believe that ants, bugs, small seeds, insects, and their larvae, form their chief subsistence, such matters alone being uniformly found in their stomachs. Neither can I see what necessity they could have to circumambulate the trunks of trees with such indefatigable and restless diligence, while bushels of nuts lay scattered round their roots. As to the circumstance mentioned by Dr Plott, of the European nuthatch "putting its bill into a crack in the bough of a tree, and making such a violent sound as if it was rending asunder", this, if true, would be sufficient to distinguish it from tbe species we have been just describing, which possesses no such faculty.[14] The female differs little from the male in colour, chiefly in the black being less deep on the head and wings.
[14] When the nuthatch cracks or splits nuts, or stones of fruit, it is for the kernels alone; it is seen, from our various accounts, to be both a seed and grain eater. The very curious manner in which our own nuthatch splits nuts seems perfectly proved by several observers and it is no less curious, that the same place is often resorted to different times in succession, as if it were more fit than another or required less labour than to seek a new situation. Montagu says that the most favourite position for breaking a nut is with the head downwards; and that in autumn it is no uncommon thing to find in the crevices of the bark of an old tree a great many broken nutshells, the work of this bird who repeatedly returns to the same spot for this purpose: when it has fixed the nut firm in a chink, it turns on all sides to strike it with most advantage; this, with the common hazel nut, is the work of some labour; but it breaks a filbert with ease.—Ed. [return]