118 XORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



year, in the ^•icinity of Carson ("ity, among the pines on the Sierra Nevada 

 Mountains. He noted its great similarity in manners to the carolinams ; at 

 the same time the well-marked ditierence in the notes did not eseajje his 

 attention. These notes are much weaker, and are uttered in a tiuer tone, and 

 some of them are said to be entirely diflerent. 



Sitta canadensis, Linn. 



RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



SUta ca-imdensis, Li-NN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 177. — Arn. Orn. I?iog. II, 1834, pi. cviii. — 

 lis. Birds Am. IV, jil. ccxlviii.— Reich. Handb. Abh. II, 1853, 152, tab. dxiii, figs. 

 3561, 3562. — B.MUli, Birds N. Am. 1858, 376; Review, 87. — ScLATKit, Catal. 

 1861, 15, no. 91. — CooPEi:, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 54. Sitta varia, WiLs. km. Orn. I, 

 1808, 40, pi. ii. 



Sp. Char. Above a.shy-bliM;. Top of bead black; a white line above and a libu-k one 

 through the eye. Chin white; rest of under parts brownish-rusty. Lengtli about 4.50 

 inelies ; wing, 2.66. Female with the black of head mixed with ashy ; beneath paler, 

 more of a muddy-wliite. 



Had. Whole United States and British Provinces. North to Lake Wiimipeg. 



Habits. The common Eed-bellied Nuthatcli, though nowhere a very 

 abundant species, is found throughout the \\hole of North America, from 

 Florida to liigh northern regions, and from ocean to ocean. The Smithsonian 

 Institution possesses specimens from Georgia, Selkirk Settlement, California, 

 and Washington Territory. Mr. Gambel lound them (juite common in the 

 mountains in the interior of California, in October, roving in company with 

 bu-sy flocks of the Parus montanus. 



Dr. Cooper met with them abundantly in Washington Territory, where 

 they preferred the oaks and other deciduous trees, and never frequented the 

 interior of the dense forest. He observed this bird and the Slendri'-liillcd 

 Nuthatch, along tlie 49th parallel, east of the Cascade ^Mountains, as late as 

 the middle of October. Dr. Suckley also met both birds west of the same 

 mountains. 



This Nuthatch was observed by IMr. liidgway among the aspen groves bor- 

 dering the streams that How from the P^ast Humboldt Mountains. In that 

 locality it was conuaon tlirongli the month of September, though not abun- 

 dant. It was again seen in June among the pine-woods of the Wahsatch 

 Mountains, but it was not common. 



While a few of these birds are resident of the Northern States, they are, 

 to a considerable extent, of migratory habits. Wilson observed them leaving 

 in large numbers for the Southern States in October, and returning again in 

 April. On the 20tli of May, 1867, the writer ob-served a small flock in 

 Eastern Massachusetts, evidently just amved from the South. They were 

 apparently fatigued and hungry, and paid no attention to the near presence 



