444 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS ATKINSI Scott. 

 FLORIDA WHITE-BREASTED NTJTHATCH. 



Similar to S. c. caroUnensis, but slightly smaller (except feet), with 

 (usually) relatively longer and more slender bill; gray of upper parts 

 slightl}" darker/' that on margins of wing-coyerts and secondaries 

 narrower; the black on inner web of two innermost secondaries 

 (tertials) extending to the shaft; black postocular streak sometimes 

 distinct; under parts duller or more grayish white, the sides and flanks 

 strongly tinged with gray; adult female with the pileum usually 

 glossj^ black, like hindneck and upper back, rarely distinctly grayish, 

 never (?) conspicuously gray. 



Adtdtmale.—'LQrigih (skins), 125-140.5 (130.2); wing, 85-92 (87.3); 

 tail, 41-47 (44.6); culmen, 18-19.5 (18.5); tarsus, 18-19.5 (18.4); mid- 

 dle toe, 14-16.5 (15.6).* 



Advlt female.— Length (skins), 122.5-131 (126.8); wing, 82.5-90 

 (86.3); culmen, lT-19 (18); tarsus, 17-18. 5 (18); middle toe, 15-16.5 

 (15.7).* 



Florida and westward along Gulf coast to Mississippi (Bay St. 

 Louis). ^ 



Siita caroUnensis (not of Latham) Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, ii, 1871, 265 

 (e. Florida).— Beyer, Proc. Louisiana Soc. Nat., 1897-99 (1900), 43 Louisi- 

 ana, resident). 



Sitta caroluiensis atkinsi Scott, Auk, vii, Apr., 1890, 118 (Tarpon Springs, Florida; 

 coll. W. E. D. Scott). — American Ornithologists' Union Committee, Auk, 

 viii, 1891, 87; Check List, 2d ed., 1895, no. 727^.— Wayne, Auk, xii, 1895, 

 366 (Wacissa R., n. w. Florida, breeding). — Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, 

 2d ed., 1896, 610. 



Sljitta} caroUnensis atkinsi Hellmayr, Tierreich, 18 Lief., Mar., 1903, 188. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS ACULEATA (Cassin). 

 SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCH. 



Similar to S. c. caroUnensis, but gra}^ of back, etc. , darker (about 

 as in 8. c. atkinsi); black central areas of greater wing-coverts much 

 less distinct; black areas on inner secondaries also much less distinct, 

 as well as more restricted, that on outer web of second tertial usually 

 with posterior extremity acuminate-pointed instead of rounded; under 

 parts more purely white; bill averaging longer and relatively more 

 slender, and toes shorter; adult female with black of hindneck broken 

 by dark gray tips to the feathers and concealed white spots. 



« Scarcely, if at all, more so, however, than in examples of S. c. caroUnensis from 

 Tennessee to southern Indiana and Illinois. See footnote on page 442. ) 



& Ten specimens. 



e K specimen from the locality mentioned, in the U. S. National Museum collec- 

 tion, is evidently referable to this form. 



