The brighter coloring of this tiny, hardy bird distinguishes it 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.
CATBIRD
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, Upper Figures, Male and Female
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, Lower Figures, Male and Female
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.
Range—Eastern United States to the plains.