114 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta carohnmsis 



Uends sitta, LiNXiEus. 



SiUa, LinXjEUs, Syst. Kat. 1735. (Agassiz.) 



Gex. Char. Bill subulate, acutely pointed, compressed, about as long as the head; 



culmen and commissure nearly 

 straight; gonys convex and as- 

 cending ; nostril.s covered by a 

 tufl of bristles directed forward. 

 Tarsi stout, scutellate, about equal 

 to the middle toe, much shorter 

 than the liinder, the claw of which 

 is half the total length. Outer 

 lateral toe much longer than in- 

 ner, and nearly equal to the mid- 

 dle. Tail very short, broad, and 

 nearly even ; the feathers soft and 

 truncate. AYings roaching nearly 

 to the end of the tail, long and 



acute, the first primary one third of (or less) the third, or longest. Iris brown. Nest in 



holes of trees. Eggs white, spotted with reddish. 



The North American species may be arranged as follows : — 



A. Crown M.ifk. 



S. carolinensis. Btllj' white ; no black stripe through eye. 



Bill, .70 long, .17 deep. Black spots on tertials sharply defined. 

 JEhb. Eastern Province North America . ■. . var. carolinensis. 

 Bill, .80 long, .14 deep. Black spots on tertials obsolete Hab. Middle 

 and Western Province United States, south to Cordova, Mexico, var. a cut eat a . 

 S. canadensis. Belly brownish-rusty. A black stripe through eye. Hab. 

 Whole of North America. 



B. Crown not black. 



S. pusilla. Crown light hair-brown ; hind toe much longer tlian the 

 niiiMIe one. IToli. South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



S. pygmaea. Crown greenish-plumbeous ; hind toe about equal to middle 

 one. Hub. Western and Middle Province United States, south to Xalapa. 



Sitta carolinensis, var. carolinensis, Lath. 



WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



Sitta europma, var. y, carolinensis, Gm. S. N. I, 1788, 440. Sitl-a carolinensis, Lath. Ind. 

 Oni. I, 1790, 262; also of all other American writers. — Reiciikxbach, Handbuch, 

 Al.h. II, 1853, 153, tab. dxiii, figs. 3563, 3564. — Baird, Bird.s N. Am. 1858, 374, 

 pi. xxxiii, fig. 4 ; Review, 86. — Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 106. SiUa nulanoccphala, 

 ViEiLL. Gal. I, 1834, 171, pi. clxxi. 



Other figures : Wilson, Am. Oru. 1, pi. ii, fig. 3. — Ari). Oni. Biog. II, pi. clii. — Ib. 

 B. A. IV, pi. ccxlvii. 



Sp. Char. Above a.shy-blue. Top of head and neck black. Under parts and sides of 

 dead to a .short distance above the eve white. Under tail-coverts and tibial feathers 



