54 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Voice. — Pygmy nuthatches are noisy birds, and their notes are quite 

 different from those of other nuthatches ; especially noticeable is the 

 entire absence of the familiar yank-yank of the white-breasted species. 

 Ralph Hoffmann (1927) describes it very well as follows: "They 

 call to one another incessantly with a high staccato tl-dt, ti-di, ti-di, 

 which becomes a rapid series of high cheeping notes when a number 

 are together, and in spring is combined with a vigorous trill. As they 

 fly they utter a soft kit, kit, kit:' Robert Ridgway (1877) thought 

 that "the notes of this species greatly resemble in their high pitch the 

 'peet' or 'peet-weet' of certain Sandpipers (as Tringoides and Rhyaco- 

 philus), but they are louder and more piercing." 



Field marks. — The pygmy nuthatches can be easily distinguished 

 from the other two western nuthatches by the absence of the conspicu- 

 ous black caps of the white-breasted and red-bellied species. It is 

 much smaller than the former and slightly smaller than the latter. 

 Its coloration is dull, and the black line through the eye and the white 

 spot on the nape are not very conspicuous, except at short range. Its 

 very short tail, its jerky flight, and its habit of crawling over trunks 

 and branches mark it as a nuthatch. 



Fall and winter. — These are the seasons of most conspicuous activity 

 and the greatest concentration into large flocks. As fall approaches 

 the little family parties join with other families, adding to their 

 numbers as the season progresses, until the flocks increase to as many 

 as 50 or 100 birds. As these great flocks travel through the woods, 

 they may occupy several trees, but, like the flocks of bushtits, they keep 

 in touch with the general throng with their ceaseless chatter, and 

 the main flock moves along. Associated with these flocks there may 

 be a few white-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, warblers, or 

 creepers, or perhaps one of the smaller woodpeckers, all intent on 

 their own affairs, but on peaceful terms. The woods seem alive with 

 the merry parties, in which the shrill notes of the nuthatches are 

 most conspicuous. 



In winter the nuthatches retreat more or less from the higher alti- 

 tudes in which they nested, and drift downward, Mrs. Bailey (1928) 

 says as low as 4,000 feet in New Mexico. They descend to some extent 

 from the pine belt and may be seen foraging among the evergreen 

 oaks, or in the juniper and pinyon belt, at this season. But at the first 

 hint of spring they move up again into their beloved yellow pines. 



SITTA PYGMAEA LEUCONUCHA Anthony 



WHITE-NAPED NUTHATCH 



HABITS 



This nuthatch was originally described as a local race, living in the 

 higher parts of the Sierra San Pedro Martir in Baja California, but 

 it is now also recognizgd as the resident form in the southern counties, 



