PARID^ — THE TITMICE AND NUTHATCHES. 83 



Subfamily SITTING. — The Nuthatches, 



The SittincB include a single American genus, Sitta, which is 

 represented by numerous species in Europe and Asia. The allied 

 genus Sittella belongs to Australia. 



Genus SITTA Linn^us. 



Sitta LiKNains, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, i, 175S, p. 115. Type, S. europcea Linn. 



"Gen. Chak. Bill subulate, acutely pointed, eompi-essed, about as long as the head; 

 culmen and commissure nearly straight; gonys convex and ascending; nostrils covered 

 by a tuft ot bristles directed forward. Tarsi stout, scutellate, about equal to the middle 

 toe, much shorter than the hinder, the claw of which is halt the total length. Outer lat- 

 eral toe much longer than inner, and nearly equal to the middle. Tail very short, broad, 

 and nearly even; the feathers soft and truncate. Wings reaching nearly to the end of the 

 tail, long and acute, the first primary one third (or less) the third, or longest. Iris 

 brown. Nest in holes of trees. Eggs white, spotted with reddish." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Species. 



Common Chakacteks. Above plain bluish gray, the crown different in color (black, 

 plumbeous, or light brown); tail and wings varied, more or less (the wings slightly), with 

 black and white; beneath chiefly plain whitish, rusty, or dull buffy. 



a' Crown glossy black in the male, plumbeous in the female; abroad white superciliary 

 stripe. 



1. S, carolinensis. Wing more than 3.30. Whole side of head and most of lower parts 



pure white, the lower tail coverts spotted with chestnut-rufous; tertials marked 

 with black, ^fale.^/f ith entire pileum and cervix glossy black ;/(»maZe with pileum 

 dusky plumbeous, the cervix black. 



2. S. canadensis. Wing less than 3 inches. Side of head with a broad black stripe; 



lower parts, except throat, light rusty, or ochraceous; tertials plain grayish. 

 Male with pileum and cervix glossy black, female with the same parts dark 

 plumbeous. 

 a- Crown light brown. Sexes alike. 



3. S. pusilla. Pileum light brown, down to the eyes, the lores and postoeular stripe 



somewhat darker; a conspicuous cervical spot of white; lower parts buffy. 

 Young with the crown grayish, the wing-coverts edged with light fulvous. 

 Wing about 2. 60. 



The Brown-headed Nuthatch [S. pusilla), is a species belonging to 

 the Southern States, where it is abundant from Louisiana and 

 Florida to lower Maryland. It has been taken in the vicinity of 

 St. Louis, Missouri, and also in Michigan and Ohio ; therefore, its 

 presence in the southern part of Illinois, especially among the pine 

 woods which there occur in certain localities, is to be anticipated. 



