. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE I^UTHATCH, CHICKADEE AND CKEEPER 185 Six well-marked types and several races of Chickadees inhabit North America from Alaska to Mexico, but the one most widely known is that just named. The White-Breasted Nuthatch^ deserves the most perfect protection and encouragement that the people of this country know how to offer. One good look at this bird on the trunk of a valuable tree, searching as if with a magnify- ing glass for the trees' deadly enemies,—the borers,—ought to
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE I^UTHATCH, CHICKADEE AND CKEEPER 185 Six well-marked types and several races of Chickadees inhabit North America from Alaska to Mexico, but the one most widely known is that just named. The White-Breasted Nuthatch^ deserves the most perfect protection and encouragement that the people of this country know how to offer. One good look at this bird on the trunk of a valuable tree, searching as if with a magnify- ing glass for the trees' deadly enemies,—the borers,—ought to convert any person to the cause of bird-protection. Like the chickadee, the Nuthatch remains in the north all winter, be- cause he feels that he has not a moment to lose in his war on the borers. The tree-trunks are his favorite hunting- ground, and he goes over them, hterally inch by inch. He becomes so absorbed in his work that he forgets all about himself, and works half the time head downward, or oblique, or horizontal, as it may happen to be. Rarely does he stop to talk, and even then he only clucks in his throat, "not necessarily for publication, but as a guar- antee of good ; Often in the silent and snowy woods, when your feet go rip! rip! rip! through the frozen crust, you hear close overhead a scratching, dig- ging sound, as of some one gouging into rougli bark with a pocket-knife. Look up, and it will be a Nuthatch, working away as if his job de- pended upon the doing of a daily stint. He thinks that in his case it is the late bird that catches the worm! His beak is hke that of a small woodpecker, and although his friend the chickadee has more style than he, he himself is much better fitted for digging in bark. The top of his head is black, his sides, throat and breast are pure white, while his back is dull blue, or gray-blue. As a climber, this bird surpasses the woodpecker, because in chnging to a tree- trunk it makes no use of its tail. Nuthatc
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookp, booksubjectnaturalhistory
