FAM. III. NUTHATCHES AND CHICKADEES 



59 



A. Under parts generally with much rusty brown ; crown black 



{male), or bluish-gray {female) ; a white stripe over eye 



2. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



A. Crown and sides of head brown, without stripes 



3. Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



B. Head conspicuously crested;'^ throat and under parts nearly white, 



with rusty-brown sides 4. Tufted Titmouse. -^ 



B. Head without crest ; throat black or dusky. (C.) /■^^•\ 



C. Top of head brown ; sides of body chestnut ^,* \ 



7. Hudsonian Chickadee. ., 



C. Top of head black. (D.) 



D. Greater wing coverts with whitish edges 5. Chickadee. 



D. (ireater wing coverts without whitish edges. .6. Carolina Chickadee. 



1. White-breasted Nuthatch (727. SHta carolinensis). — A 

 short-tailed, ti'ee-cree})iiiijc, l)luish-backed, black-crowned, white- 

 bellied bird, with brown blotches on the under tail coverts. 

 The sides of the head are 

 white like the throat and 

 breast, and the back neck 

 black like the crown. The 

 female has the black not 

 so intense. The nuthatches 

 are peculiar in their ability 

 to run along tree trunks 

 in all directions, with the 

 head downward as often 

 as upward. They are not 

 singers, but have a call 

 note of qxiank quanJc, which they repeat with no reference to 

 the position of their body. 



Length, (3 ; wing, 3^ (3.^-3|) ; tail, 2 ; tarsus, J ; culmen, |. Eastern 

 United States from Georgia to the Dominion of Canada; generally resident 

 throughout. The Florida White-breasted Nuthatch (727''. S. c. atkinsi) 

 is somewhat smaller and has the wing coverts and the quills very slightly, 

 if at all, tipped with whitish. Wing less than 3.} ; tail, \%. It is found 

 from South Carolina to Florida. 



2. Red-breasted Nuthatch (728. Sitta canacUnsis). — A short- 

 tailed, tree-creeping, bluish-backed, brownish-red-breasted bird, 

 with the black of the top and sides of the head separated by a 



White-breasted Nuthatch 



