122 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta pusilla, Lath. 



BEOWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 



Sitta pnsilla, Lath. Ind. Oni. 1, 1790, 263. — Wils. Am. Oni. 11, 1810, 105, pi. xv. — 

 AuD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, pi. cxxv. — Ib. Birds Am. IV, pi. ccxlix. — Reich. Handb. 

 1853, 153, tab. dxiv, figs. 3567, 3568. — Baikd. Birds, N. Am. 1858, 377; Review, 88. 

 — SCLATKR, Catal. 1S61, 15. 



Sp. Cii.vR. Above ashy-blue ; top of head ami upper part of neck rather light hair- 

 brown, divided on the nape by ivhile. Eye involved in the brown, which is deeper on 

 the lower border. Beneath muddy-whitish ; sides and behind paler than the back. 

 Jliddle tail-feathers almost entirely like the back. Length of female, 4 inches ; wing, 2.50. 



Hab South Atlantic and Gulf States. Oliio ! Kirtland. 



Habits. The Brown-headed Nuthatch has a mncli more restricted distri- 

 bution than the other niembers of this family in this country. The speci- 

 mens in tlie Smithsonian Museum are chiefly from Georgia. Wilson met 

 with it in Virginia, and states that it is found in the other Southern States. 

 I have received its eggs from Oheraw, S. C, and I'roni Florida. 



Wilson's description of its habits makes them almost identical with those 

 of Sitta canadensis, while its notes are more shrill and cliiriiing. Like that 

 bird, it is very fond of the .seeds of the pines. Wherever found, it is a con- 

 stant resident, and does not migrate. 



Audubon states that this bird never goes farther north tlian Maryland, 

 and that it is the most abundant in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. 

 In Louisiana it is rare, and it is not fiuind in Kentucky. Its notes, 

 he states, are several octaves higher than thnsc of the caTolinensis, and 

 more shrill, and at least an octave and a half liigher than those of the 

 canadams. 



Although apparently preferring pines and jiiiic barrens, it by no means 

 confines itself to them, but is not unfrequently seen on low trees and fences, 

 mounting, descending, and turning in every direction, and with so nnich quick- 

 ness of motion as to render it ditiictdt to shoot it. It examines every hole 

 and every crevice in the bark of trees, as well as their leaves and twigs, 

 among wliich it finds aliundance of food at all seasons. During the breeding- 

 season they go abotit in pairs and are very noisy. Their oidy note; is a mo- 

 notonous cry, described as resembling dend, dend. Mr. Aiidubcm fuitlicv 

 states that when the first brood leaves the nest, the young birds keep to- 

 gether, moving from tree to tree with all the activity of their parents, who 

 join them when the second brood is able to keep them company. In Florida 

 they pair in the beginning of February, having eggs as early as the middle 

 of that month. In South Carolina they breed one month later. Tlieir nest 

 is usually excavated by the birds themselves in the dead portion of a low- 

 stump or sapling, sometimes only a few feet from the ground, but not unfre- 

 quently at the height of thirty or forty feet. Both birds are said tn work in 



