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A Nuthatch’s Nest
BY FRANK I. ANTESt Canandaizua. N. Y,
'I‘ROLLING through the woods one day early last April, my attention was attracted by a pair of VVhite-breasted Nuthatches which had nesting material in their bills AsI watched them, one of the pair flew to a dead tree and disappeared in a hole about twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground. In a moment the bird reappeared but without the nesting material, and I
knew I had found the nest. I resolved on the spot to come two or three
times a week and watch the birds at their nesting, but Iwas unavoidably detained and was not able to visit the nest again for about two weeks; by this time the incubation was well under way, and. although the male Nut- hatch did not brood the eggs, he brought food to the female twice during the fifteen minutes that I remainetl near.
As far as I know. the eggs did not hatch until the 8th of NIay, when I discovered both birds carrying food into the nest. The female continued to brood them. however, until May It. By the last week in IVIay they were old enough to climb to the edge of the nest for food. and from that time on I kept close watch of them, expecting almost every day to find that they had gone: but it looked as though they had taken up permanent quarters in that tree. I would go quietly into the woods and level my glass on the nest-hole; all would appear quiet and I would say to myself. "They have gone at last.” when one of the parent birds would alight near the nest-hole and instantly up would come five or six hungry mouths ready for food. The day came at length for their departure. but I am sorry to say I was not on hand. Everything was as usual on the 30th of May, but when I visited the nest on June 3, the young had flown and the home in the wood was deserted.
A Prize Oflered
BIRD-LURE offers to its Young Observers of fourteen years and under a prize of a hook or books. to the value of two dollars, for the best article on winter bird—life, This article must be based on personal observation and tell not only of the birds seen but something of What they were seen to do. It may contain from 400 to 700 words and should be sent to the editor at Englewoodi N. J,. not later than January to, 1904. ltqb)
