20 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



(1936) who collected 13 specimens of this nuthatch in the Sheep and 

 Charleston Mountains in Nevada and says that it "was found in every 

 type of coniferous timber above 8,000 feet. Until the middle of Au- 

 gust the birds ranged up to 10,500 feet in the bristle-cone and limber- 

 pine forests, but after the first cold weather the higher altitudes were 

 almost deserted. On August 19, I saw but one nuthatch above 9,500 

 feet and on the 21st none above 9,200 feet, although on both dates they 

 were common, chiefly in yellow pines, between 8,000 and 9,000." 



Dr. Grinnell (1918) gives, as the diagnostic characters of the Inyo 

 nuthatch: "Similar to Sitta carolinensis aculeata from west-central 

 California, but bill much longer and slenderer, size larger, back of 

 darker tone of gray, and flanks paler; similar to 8. c. nelsoni from 

 southern Arizona, but bill much slenderer, and sides, and lower sur- 

 face generally, whiter. * * * In some respects this race is inter- 

 mediate between the Rocky Mountain form and that of the Pacific 

 coast region, but in the extreme slenderness of bill differs from either." 



Nothing peculiar is mentioned about its habits. 



The eggs of the Inyo nuthatch are probably similiar to those of 

 other races of the species. J. Stuart Rowley has sent me the measure- 

 ments of a set of seven eggs, which average 19.2 by 13.4 millimeters ; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 19.97 by 13.16, 19.23 by 

 13.68, and 18.71 by 13.38 millimeters. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS ALEXANDRAE Griimell 



SAN PEDRO NUTHATCH 



HABITS 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1926) described this race and named it in 

 honor of Miss Annie M. Alexander, who sponsored the expedition to 

 the San Pedro Martir region of Baja California, where this decidedly 

 local subspecies was discovered. It seems to be confined to the Transi- 

 tion and Canadian Zones in the San Pedro Martir Plateau, between 

 latitudes 30° and 31°30', and at altitudes of 6,000 to 8,500 feet, a very 

 narrow range. It is widely separated from the San Lucas nuthatch 

 by "some 600 miles of forbidding country" ; and there seems to be a 

 wide gap between it and the slender-billed nuthatch of California. 



Dr. Grinnell (1926) gives as its characters: "General features of 

 size and coloration as in Sitta carolinensis aculeata, but differs from 

 this race in much longer wing, tail, and bill, in much broader rectrices, 

 in greater proportion of white on rectrices, in broader white-tippings 

 to inner primaries, and in slightly darker color-tone of dorsum." He 

 says further: "These modifications in the flight equipment of the' 

 nuthatches of the San Pedro Martir plateau, it may be suggested, 

 have been developed as a result of long existence in the very open 

 type of forest there prevalent; the individual trees are far apart as 



