"Leaden skies above; snow below," is Mr. Parkhurst's suggestive description of this rather timid little neighbor, that is only starved into familiarity. When the snow has buried seed and berries, a flock of juncos, mingling sociably with the sparrows and chickadees about the kitchen door, will pick up scraps of food with an intimacy quite touching in a bird naturally rather shy. Here we can readily distinguish these "little gray-robed monks and nuns," as Miss Florence Merriam calls them.
They are trim, sprightly, sleek, and even natty; their dispositions are genial and vivacious, not quarrelsome, like their sparrow cousins, and what is perhaps best about them, they are birds we may surely depend upon seeing in the winter months. A few come forth in September, migrating at night from the deep woods of the north, where they have nested and moulted during the summer;but not until frost has sharpened the air are large numbers of them seen.
Rejoicing in winter, they nevertheless do not revel in the deep and fierce arctic blasts, as the snowflakes do, but take good care to avoid the open pastures before the hard storms overtake them.
Early in the spring their song is sometimes heard before they leave us to woo and to nest in the north. Mr. Bicknell describes it as "a crisp call-note, a simple trill, and a faint, whispered warble, usually much broken, but not without sweetness."WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (Sitta carolinensis) Nuthatch family Called also: TREE-MOUSE; DEVIL DOWNHEADLength -- 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!
Titmice and nuthatches, which have many similar characteristics, are often seen in the most friendly hunting parties on the same tree. A pine woods is their dearest delight. There, as the mercury goes down, their spirits only seem to go up higher. In the spring they have been thought by many to migrate in flocks, whereas they are only retreating with their relations away from the haunts of men to the deep, cool woods, where they nest. With infinite patience the nuthatch excavates a hole in a tree, lining it with feathers and moss, and often depositing as many as ten white eggs speckled with red and lilac) for a single brood.
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH (Sitta canadensis) Nuthatch family Called also: CANADA NUTHATCHLength -- 4 to 4.75 inches. One-third smaller than the English sparrow.
Male -- Lead-colored above; brownish on wings and tail. Head, neck, and stripe passing through eye to shoulder, black.
Frontlet, chin, and shoulders white; also a white stripe over eye, meeting on brow. Under parts light, rusty red. Tail feathers barred with white near end, and tipped with pale brown.
Female -- Has crown of brownish black, and is lighter beneath than male.
Range -- Northern parts of North America. Not often seen south of the most northerly States.
Migrations -- November. April. Winter resident.
The brighter coloring of this tiny, hardy bird distinguishes from the other and larger nuthatch, with whom it is usually seen, for the winter birds have a delightfully social manner, so that a colony of these Free masons is apt to contain not only both kinds of nuthatches and chickadees, but kinglets and brown creepers as well. It shares the family habit of walking about the trees, head downward, and running along the under side of limbs like a fly. By Thanksgiving Day the quank! quank! of the white-breasted species is answered by the tai-tai-tait! of the red-breasted cousin in the orchard, where the family party is celebrating with an elaborate menu of slugs, insects' eggs, and oily seeds from the evergreen trees.
For many years this nuthatch, a more northern species than the white-breasted bird, was thought to be only a spring and autumn visitor, but latterly it is credited with habits like its congener's in nearly every particular.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE (Lanius ludovicianus) Shrike family Length -- 8.5 to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin.
Male and Female -- Upper parts gray; narrow black line across forehead, connecting small black patches on sides of head at base of bill. Wings and tail black, plentifully marked with white, the outer tail feathers often being entirely white and conspicuous in flight. Underneath white or very light gray.
Bill hooked and hawk-like.
