498 Birds of Colorado 



The nest is placed in a hole or crevice, generally between 

 the bark and the trunk of a rotten pine or fir. Gale found 

 a nest in such a situation about eight feet from the 

 ground, on June 11th, contaiuing five eggs slightly- 

 incubated. He states further that in Boulder co. fresh 

 eggs can usually be found from June 10th to 25th at 

 9,000 feet, and from June 30th to July 10th at 11,000 feet. 



The eggs are white, speckled with reddish-brown, 

 and measure '59 x '46. 



Family SITTID^. 

 This family contains the Nuthatches, distinguished 

 by the following external characters : Bill rather long, 

 straight, slender and acute, about as long as the head ; 

 nostrils rounded and concealed by bristles ; wing long 

 and pointed with ten primaries, the outer one of which 

 is very short or even spurious, and always less than half 

 the next ; tail always considerably shorter than the wing. 

 Tongue horny, acute and barbed. 



Genus SITTA. 



Characters of the family. Four species in the United States with 

 several additional geographical races. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Crown black in males, dusky grey in females. 



a. Larger — wing over 3-0 ; below white. S. c. nelsoni, p. 498. 



b. Smaller — wing under 3-0 ; below reddish-buff. 



S. canadensis, p. 500. 



B. Crown greyish-olive. S. pygmsea, p. 501. 



Rocky-Mountain Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis nelsoni. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 727c— Colorado Records— Allen 72, pp. 148, 

 161 ; Aiken 72, p. 195 ; Trippe 74, p. 230 ; Henshaw 75, p. 173 ; Scott 

 79, p. 92 ; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 154 ; Drew 85, p. 15 ; Morrison 86, 

 p. 35; 88, p. 72; Kellogg 90, p. 89; Lowe 94, p. 270; McGregor 97, 

 p. 39 ; Cooke 97, pp. 121, 122, 222 ; Henderson 03, pp. 237, 108; 09, 

 p. 241 ; Oilman 07, p. 195 ; Warren 08, p. 25 ; 09, p. 17 ; Richards 08, 

 p. 194 ; Rockwell 08, p. 178. 



