Nuthatch

a family of climbing birds akin to the chickadee. The name is derived from a custom of lodging a seed or a nut, usually a beechnut, in the bark of a tree and hacking or hatching it with repeated strokes of the bill. There are four species in North America. The white-breasted nuthatch nests from Minnesota to New Brunswick and southward. The red-breasted breeds from the same line northward and along the Alleghanies southward. These birds have somewhat the attitude of tiny woodpeckers, but they run down a tree trunk as readily as they run up, and make no use of the tail feathers for support. In fact, head down and tail up is a favorite, we may say usual, position. Nuthatches nest in trees or stumps.

With more artless inquisitiveness than fear, this lively little acrobat stops his hammering or hatching 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-glass. 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 stretches for the spider's eggs, larvae, etc., hidden there; yet somehow, between mouthfuls, managing to call out his cheery quank! quank! hank! hank!-Neltje Blanchan.

Then there is the white-breasted nuthatch; he is very sure to find the suet sooner or later. How different he is from downy! He always alights head downward, and feeds in that position on the tree. When he comes you will learn to put large pieces of food on the table. Anything that he can carry will be taken away, and tucked into the cracks and crotches of the trees. He is a tireless little worker.-OUR BIRDS:-The Nuthatch.