RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH
728. Sitta canadensis. 4½ inches
These birds have the same habits as the larger Nuthatch, but are often found in flocks, while the White-breasted are usually in pairs and in the fall accompanied by their young. In the winter we usually find them in coniferous trees, where we can locate them by their nasal calls or by the shower of bark that they pry from the tree in their quest for grubs.
Song.—A nasal “yank-yank,” like that of the last, but not so loud, and usually repeated more times.
Nest.—In hollow stumps and limbs, the area about the opening nearly always being coated with fir balsam, for what purpose is not known; the cavity is lined with grasses and feathers; they lay from four to seven white eggs, which are very thickly spotted with reddish brown (.60 × .50).
Range.—N. A., breeding from the northern parts of the northern tier of states, northward; winters south nearly to the Gulf and southern California.
