278 



5 YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



Fig. 138. — Canada Nuthatch, uat 

 size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) 



tail-feathers the same ; wings fuscous, with slight ashy edgiugs and concealed white bases 

 of primaries. Entire under parts rusty-brown, very variable in shade, from rich fulvous to 

 brownish-white, usually palest on throat, deepest on sides and 

 crissum ; tail-feathers, except middle pair, black, the lateral 

 marked with white. Whole top and side of head and ueck 

 glossy black, that of the side appearing as a broad bar through 

 eye from bill to side of ueck, cut off from that of crown by a 

 long white superciliary stripe, which meets its fellow across 

 forehead. Bill dark plumbeous, paler below ; feet plumbeous- 

 brown. Length 4.50-4.75; extent 8.00-8.50; wing 2.60 ; 

 tail 1.50 ; bill 0.50. 9 : Crown like back ; lateral stripe on head merely blackish. The under 

 parts average paler than those of the <J, but there is no constancy about this. Young birds 

 resemble the 9 . Temperate N. Am., range on the whole more northerly than that of caroli- 

 nensis, breeding from the northern tier of States northward, and further south only in moun- 

 tainous regions ; winters S. through the S. States ; common in woodland ; habits like those of 

 the Carolina Nuthatch ; eggs similar, smaller, 0.65 X 0.54 down to 0.60 X 0.45. 

 S. pusil'la. (Lat.j9MsiZ?«, puerile, petty. Fig. 139.) Brown-headed Nuthatch. (J 9 , 

 adult : No black cap or white stripe on head. Upper parts dull ashy-blue ; under parts sordid 

 or muddy whitish. Cap clear hair-brown. A decided spot of white on middle of nape, in the 

 brown cap, which on sides of head includes eyes, and is bor- _ 

 dered with dusky. Middle tail-feathers like back, without 

 black, and with little or no white. Length scarcely 4.00 ; 

 extent about 8.00; wing 2.50; tail 1.25; tarsus 0.60; bill 

 about 0.50. S. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to Virginia, 

 Ohio, and Missouri. Habits of the other species : eggs 0.60 X 

 0.50, very heavily speckled with dark reddish -brown. 

 S. pygmse'a. (Gr. irvynfj, pttgme, the fist ; Lat. pygmeciis, a 

 pygmy, fistliug, or tom-thumb.) Pygmy Nuthatch. S 9 , 

 adult : Upper parts ashy-blue ; wings with slight if any mark- 

 ings (as in canadensis), though some outer primaries may be narrowly edged with white. 

 Whole crown, nape, and sides of head to below eyes, olive-brown, the lateral borders of this 

 patch blackish; an obsolete whitish patch on nape. Central tail-feathers lilce back, but witli 

 a long white spot, and their outer webs black at base; other tail-feathers blackish, with white 

 marks, often also tipped with color of back. Entire under parts ranging from muddy-white to 

 smoky-brown or rich rusty, nearly or quite as intense as in canadensis; flanks and crissum 

 shaded with a dull wash of color of back. Bill and feet dark plumbeous, tlie former paler at 

 base below. Iris black. Size of the last. Young : Differs much as 9 canadensis does from 

 ^, having top of liead like back. U. S. from Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, abundant, chiefly in 

 pine woods; N. to British Columbia, S. into Mexico. Eggs 6-7, 0.62 X 0.50; white, pro- 

 fusely speckled with reddish. 



S. p. leuconu'cha. (Gr. XevKos, leucos, white, and Lat. nucha, nape.) White-naped Nut- 

 hatch. Like the last ; nuchal spot more conspicuous ; under parts whiter ; head grayer ; bill 

 larger. San Pedro Mts., Lower California. Anthony, Pr. Cala. Acad., 2d ser., ii, Oct. 1889, 

 p. 77; C0UE8, Key, 3d ed., 1890, p. 898 ; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed., 1895, p. 305, No. 730 a. 



Fio. 139. — BrowTi-headed Nut- 

 hatch, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) 



Family CEBTHIID^ : Creepers. 



A very small, well-marked group, of about 12 species, and 4 or 5 genera, which fall in 2 

 sections, commonly called subfamilies ; one of these, Ticliodroinince, is represented by the well- 

 known European Wall Creeper, Tichodroma muraria, and several (chiefly Australian) species 



