Habits. The common White-bellied Nuthatch has an extended distribution throughout nearly the whole of Eastern North America, from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. West of the great central plains it is replaced by the var. aculeata. It has not been met with, so far as I am aware, farther north than Nova Scotia. It is a resident of Eastern Maine, and is quite common in the southern and western portions of the same State. In Massachusetts it is rather common than abundant, and more plentiful in the western than in the eastern portions of that State.
The habits of this and the other species of Nuthatches partake somewhat of those of the smaller Woodpeckers and of the Titmice. Without the noisy and restless activity of the latter, they seek their food in a similar manner, and not unfrequently do so in their company, moving up or down the trunks and over or under the branches of trees, searching every crack and crevice of the bark for insects, larvæ, or eggs. Like the Woodpeckers, they dig industriously into decayed branches for the hidden grub, and like both Woodpeckers and Chickadees they industriously excavate for themselves a place for their nests in the decayed trunks of forest trees. Their nest, however, is usually at a greater elevation, often some twenty or thirty feet from the ground. The European Nuthatch is said to plaster up the entrance to its nest, to contract its opening and lessen the dangers of unfriendly intrusion. This habit has never been observed in any of the American species.
All our ornithological writers have noticed the assiduities of the male bird to his sitting mate, and the attention with which he supplies her with food. He keeps ever in the vicinity of the nest, calls her from time to time to come to the mouth of the hole to take her food, or else to receive his endearments and caresses, and at the approach of danger fearlessly intervenes to warn her of it. When feeding together, the male bird keeps up his peculiar nasal cry of hŏnk-hŏnk, repeating it from time to time, as he moves around the trunk or over the branches.
Their favorite food is insects, in every condition. With this, when abundant, they seem content, and rarely wander from their accustomed woods in summer. In winter, when snow or ice covers the branches or closes against them the trunks of trees, they seek the dwellings and out-houses for their
necessary food, and will even alight on the ground in quest of seeds. In searching for food among the trees, they move as readily with their heads downward as in any other position. Their motion is a uniform and steady progression, somewhat in the manner of a mouse, but never, like the Woodpecker, by occasional hops.
The European species collect and store away the fruit of the hazel and other nut-bearing trees. Our bird has been supposed to do the same thing, but this is by no means an indisputable fact.
In some parts of the country absurd prejudices prevail against these interesting little birds. They are indiscriminately confounded with the smaller Woodpeckers, called, with them, Sap-Suckers, and because in the spring and fall they frequent old orchards are most unwisely, as well as unjustly, persecuted. They are among the most active and serviceable of the fruit-grower’s benefactors. His worst enemies are their favorite food. It is to be hoped that soon a better-informed public opinion will prevail, cherishing and protecting, rather than seeking to destroy, this useful, affectionate, and attractive species.
Interesting accounts are given in English works of the confiding tameness of the European species. When kindly treated, it will come regularly for its food, approaching within a foot or two of the hand of its benefactor, and catching with its bill the food thrown to it before it can reach the ground.
The pair work together in constructing the perforation in which they make their nest. When the excavation has been well begun, they relieve each other at the task. The one not engaged in cutting attends upon its mate, and carries out the chips as they are made. These nesting-places are often quite deep, not unfrequently from fifteen to twenty inches. Audubon states that they build no nest, but this does not correspond with my observations. In all the instances that have come to my knowledge, warm and soft nests were found, composed of down, fur, hair, or feathers loosely thrown together, and, though not large in bulk, yet sufficient for a lining for the enlarged cavity that completes their excavation. Soon after they are hatched, the young climb to the opening of the nest to receive their food, and, before they are ready to fly, venture out upon the trunk to try their legs and claws before their wings are prepared for use, retiring at night to their nest. In the Southern States they are said to have two broods in a season.
The eggs of this Nuthatch measure .80 by .62 of an inch. Their ground-color is white, but when the egg is fresh it has a beautiful roseate tinge, and generally receives an apparently reddish hue from the very general distribution of the spots and blotches of rusty-brown and purplish with which the eggs are so closely covered. These markings vary greatly in size, from fine dots to well-marked blotches. Their color is usually a reddish-brown; occasionally the markings are largely intermixed with purple.