276 



SYSTEMsl TIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 



Family SITTID^: Nuthatches. 



Bill subcylindrical, tapering, compressed, slender, acute, nearly or about as long as head ; 

 culmen and commissure about straight; gonys long, convex, ascending (giving a sort of re- 

 curved look to a really straight bill). Nostrils rounded, 

 concealed by bristly tufts. Wings long, pointed, with 

 10 primaries, 1st very short or spurious; tail much 

 shorter than wings, broad, soft, nearly even; tarsus 

 shorter than middle toe and claw, scutellate in front; 

 toes all long, with large, much curved, compressed 

 claws ; 1st toe and claw about equal to 3d ; 2d and 4th 

 toes very unequal in length. Plumage compact ; body 

 flattened ; tongue horny, acute, barbed. Nuthatches 

 are amongst the most nimble and adroit of creepers; 

 thoy scramble about and hang in every conceivable atti- 

 tude, head downward as often as otherwise. This is 

 done, too, without any help from the tail — the whole 

 tarsus being often applied to the support ; and there is 

 in their movements something so suggestive of mice 

 \ that they are sometimes called Treemice — a term which 

 , contrasts very well with Titmice, of the neighboring 

 family ParidtE. They are chiefly insectivorous, but 

 feed also on hard fruits ; and gained their English name 

 from their habit of sticking nuts and seeds in cracks in 

 bark, and hammering away with the bill till they break 

 the shell. They are very active and restless little birds, 

 quite sociable, often going in troops which keep up a 

 continual noise ; lay 4-6 white, spotted eggs, in hol- 

 lows of trees. The family is a small one, of less than 

 30 species, among them a single remarkable Madagascar form (^Hypositta) , and a genus pecu- 

 liar to Australia (Sittella) ; but is cliiefly represented by the genus Sitta, with some 15 species 

 of Europe, Asia, and North America. The genera Xenicus and Acanthisitta of New Zealand, 

 long supposed to be Sittidac, are now known to belong elsewhere. The A. 0. U. reduces Sittidee 

 to a subfamily oi Par idee — in my judgment a needless if not unwise step I am not prepared 

 to take. The change is of no practical consequence. 



SIT'TA. (Lat. sitta, Gr. mTTa, name of a bird. Fig. 135.) Typical Nuthatches. Tree- 

 mice. Characters practically those given under head of the family. 



Fig. 135. — European Nuthatch, Sitta ccesia 

 (resembling S. pusilla), nearly uat. size. (From 

 Brehm.) 



Analysis of Species and Subspecies. 



White below ; crissum washed with rusty-brown ; cap glossy black, without stripes. 



Bill stouter, 0.18-0.20 deep at base. Inner secondaries boldly variegated with black. Eastern. 



Eastern U.S. and British Provinces cnrolinensis 



Florida to South Carolina coastwise c. atkinsi 



Bill slenderer, 0.12-0.16 deep at base. Inner secondaries scarcely variegated vritli blackish. Western 



c. anileala 



Rusty-brown below ; cap glossy black with white stripes, or color of back canadensis 



Rusty-brovm or brownish-white below ; cap brown, unlike back, without stripes. 



Crown clear hair-brown ; a white spot on nape ; middle tail-feathers plain. Southeastern .... pusilla 

 Crown dull-brownish, with darker border ; middle tail-feathers with black. 



Southwestern ; little or no white on nape pygmo'a 



Lower California ; more white on nape p. leuconucha 



