140 HISTORY OF THE PYGMY NUTHATCH 



While tliis species is iucUibitably very closely related to .'^. pisilla of the 

 Sautheru States, it preseuts differences which I have uot seen bridged over 

 by interinediato examples. The color of the head is a pure hair-brovs'u ia 

 S. pusilla, ill which the white nuchal spot 13 large and distinct ; and the 

 central tail-feathers show little, if any, trace of the black and white markings 

 so conspicuous in S. pygma'a. 



HERE vre have the most abiiadaut, characteristic aud gen- 

 erally distributed species of the family iu the Colorado 

 Basin. The bird was originally brought to the notice of natur- 

 alists by Mr. N. A. Vigors, who received it from Monterey, 

 where it was collected during the voyage of the "Blossom", 

 under command of Capt. F. W. Beechey, R. K., and described 

 and figured it iu the volume in which the zoological results of 

 the expedition were made known, in 1830. A few years sub- 

 sequently. Dr. Wm. Gambel spoke of its great abundance iu 

 certain portions of California; and most of the western explorers 

 who followed in the wake of the sturdy pioneers of '49 have left 

 memoranda of their observations. From the southwesterly 

 regions where the species was first noticed, its known range 

 has gradually extended to the east and north, till it now includes 

 the whole of the United States from the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Pacific. In Mexico, similarly, we have had advices of its 

 presence; it has been recorded from Xalapa, and Sumichrast 

 states that it is resident in Vera Cruz up to the limit of vegeta- 

 tion on the highest peaks. Though it is strictly the western 

 representative of the Brown-headed Xuthatch, yet its range is 

 much more extended ; for the latter is almost entirely confiued 

 to the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, only occasionally 

 reaching as far north as Ohio. 



Within the whole area of its dispersion, the Pygmy Nut- 

 hatch is resident, like most of its family and their allies. Some 

 Ijass the winter as far north as latitude 49^, although, according 

 to Mr. J. K. Lord, many proceed southward in November. I 

 found it at all seasons about Fort Whipple ; but iu the pine forests 

 of that elevated locality it is most abundant in summer. It 

 seems to prefer the pines, especially during the breeding sea- 

 son, and ranges up the mountains to an altitude of 8 or 10,000 

 feet, or to the timber-line ; at other times it is more generally 

 distributed through the deciduous woods of lower levels. During 

 my residence at Fort Whipple, the habits of these birds were to 

 me a study which never failed to please. If I loitered in list- 

 less mood among the magnificent pines, "the world forgetting, 

 l)y the world forgot," absorbed in the sensuous undercurrent 



