14 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



same pair, on April 6; this nest was in an old hole of the downy wood- 

 pecker, 35 feet from the ground in a dead pine. His third nest was 

 in a natural cavity of a red oak, about 45 feet above the ground, from 

 which he took another set of five eggs on March 31, 1904. 



Dr. Oberholser (1938) says that, in Louisiana, "occasionally the bird 

 excavates its own home, and it is also fond of using nesting boxes or 

 bird houses, even close to a dwelling." 



M. G. Vaiden (MS.) reports a nest that he found near Kosedale, 

 Miss., on April 12, 1926; the nest was in a dead willow, some 8 feet 

 up, in a natural cavity; it was "composed of feathers, some grass 

 and decayed hair and skin of a squirrel." 



Eggs. — Five seems to be the usual number of eggs found in the nest 

 of the Florida nuthatch. Perhaps more or fewer may occasionally 

 make up a set. These are practically indistinguishable from the eggs 

 of the northern white-breasted nuthatch, though some that I have 

 seen are somewhat more heavily marked. The measurements of 40 

 eggs average 18.3 by 14.3 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four ex- 

 tremes measure 19.6 by 15.0, 18.7 by 15.3, 17.1 by 14.5, and 18.1 by 13.4 

 millimeters. 



I can find nothing peculiar in any of the other habits of this nut- 

 hatch, which probably do not differ materially from those of its 

 northern relative. Maynard (1896), however, states that the "males 

 utter a singular song which consists of a series of low notes which 

 partly resemble those of the Carolina Wren and partly those of the 

 Tufted Tit. The birds when giving this odd lay appear very restless, 

 and fly from tree to tree without pausing anywhere." This may be a 

 courtship performance. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS NELSONI Mearns 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN NUTHATCH 



HABITS 



In the Rocky Mountain region, from southern Alberta southward 

 into northern Mexico, and from the eastern base of the Cascades and 

 the northern Sierra Nevada eastward across the Rocky Mountains, we 

 find this large and well-marked race of the white-breasted nuthatches. 



Dr. Mearns (1902a) describes it as the "largest known form of Sitta 

 carolinensis. Bill large and rather stout, with contour of maxilla con- 

 vex rather than straight above. Coloration dark. Under parts 

 washed with gray and fulvous or fawn color, but less strongly so than 

 in Sitta carolinensis mexicana Nelson and Palmer. * * * In addi- 

 tion to its larger size, this form may be separated from the eastern 

 bird by its darker coloration, the back being more nearly slate color 

 than plumbeous, and the color pattern of the tertials as in Sitta caro- 

 linensis aculeata, from which latter its larger size, stouter and differ- 



