PARID^ — SITTA. 55 



tliroui'h the eve. Cluii white ; rest of under parts rusty-brown. Length aliout 4.50 in- 

 ches ; extent, 8.25 ; wing, 2.(50. 

 liab. North America generally. 



I have not myself met with this bird in California, but it has been ob- 

 tained by Dr. Heermann, in the Sacramento Valley, ami a .straggler, as far 

 south as Fort Yuma, \^y Lieutenant Ive.s'.s exploring party in 1858-59. It 

 is very common toward.s the north, in company with S. aculcata, and ha.s 



similar haljits, but is rather quicker in its motion.s, and with a more varied 

 call of several notes, resembling that of the chicadees (Farus). Both 

 occasionally frequent pine forests, especially those that are open. The 

 nest, according to Audubon, is sometimes in the hollow of a low stump or 

 tree (not burrowed out), and the eggs are four, bluish- white, sprinkled with 

 reddish dots. 



Sitta pygmaea. Vigors. 



THE CALIFORNIAN NUTHATCH. 



S if ta pi/r/mcpa, Vigors, Zool. Beechey's Voyage, 18.39, 2.'j ; pi, iv. — Audubov, Om. B!og. 

 V. 18.39,6.3; pi. 415. In. Birds Amer. IV". 1842, 181; pi. 2.'j0. —Newberry, Zool. 

 Cal. Or. Route; P. R. R. Rep. VI. iv. 1857, 79. — Baird, IX. Birds, 378. — Cooper 

 and SucKLEY, XII. iii. Zool. of W. T. 193. 



Sp. Cii.\r. Above, ashy-blue ; head and upper part of neck greenish ashy-brown, its low- 

 er border passing a little below the eye, where it is darker ; nape with an obscure whitish 

 spot. Chin and throat whitish ; rest of lower parts brownish-white ; the sides .and behind 

 like the b.ack, but paler. Middle tail feather like the back ; its basal half with a long 

 white spot; its outer web edged with black at the base. Length about 4.50 inches; ex- 

 tent, 8 ; wing, 2.70. Iris brown ; bill black ; lead-color at base ; feet gray. 



Hub. Rocky Mountains, lat. 49°, and Pacific Coast south to Monterey. 



A specimen from Monterey, — the original locality of tlie species, — is 

 much smaller than one from the Sierra Nevada, at Lake Tahoe, but may be 

 younger, though both were killed in September. The difference is 4.30 — 

 7.50 — 2.60 to 475 — 8.25 — 2.75, jMssibly the diflereuce between the size 

 of the sexes. 



