114 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta caroUnensis. 



Genus SITTA, Linn^us. 



Sitta, LiNN^us, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Agassiz.) 



Gen. Char. Bill subulate, acutely pointed, compressed, about as long as the head ; 



culmen and commissure nearly 

 straight ; gonys convex and as- 

 cending ; nostrils covered by n 

 tuft of bristles directed forward. 

 Tarsi stout, scutellate, about equal 

 to the middle toe, much shorter 

 than the hinder, the claw of which 

 is half the total length. Outer 

 lateral toe much longer than in- 

 ner, and nearly equal to the mid- 

 dle. 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 of (or less) the third, or longest. Iris brown. Nest in 



holes of trees. Eggs white, spotted with reddish. 



The North American species may be arranged as follo^^'s : — 



A. Crown black. 



S. carolinensis. Belly white ; no black stripe through eye. 



Bill, .70 long, .17 deep. Black spots on tertials sharply defined. 

 Hob. Eastern Province North America . . . var. carolinensis. 



Bill, .80 long, .14 deep. Black spots on tertials obsolete Hah. Middle 

 and Western Province United States, south to Cordova, Mexico, var. aculeata. 

 S. canadensis. Belly brownish-rusty. A black stripe through eye. I/ab. 

 Whole of North America. 



B. Crown not black. 



S. pusilla. Crown light hair-brown ; hind toe much longer than the 

 middle one. Hah. South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



S. pygmaea. Crown greenish-plumbeous ; hind toe about equal to middle 

 one. Hah. Western and Middle Province United States, south to Xalapa. 



Sitta carolinensis, 



carolinensis, Lath. 



WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



Sitta cwropar(, var. y, carolinensis, Gm. S. N. I, 1788, 440. Sitta carolinensis, Lath. Ind. 

 Orn. I, 1790, 262; also of all other American writers. — Keichenbach, Handbuch, 

 Abh. II, 1853, 153, tab. dxiii, figs. 3563, 3564. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 374, 

 pi. xxxiii, fig. 4 ; Review, 86. — Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 106. Sitta mclanoccphala, 

 ViEiLL. Gal. I, 1834, 171, pi. clxxi. 



Other figures : Wilson, Am. Orn. I, pi. ii, fig. 3. — Aun. Orn. Biog. II, pi. clii. — Ib. 

 B. A. IV, pi. ccxlvii. 



Sp. Char. Above ashy-blue. Top of head and neck black. Under parts and sides of 

 head to a short distance above the eye white. Under tail-coverts and tibial feathers 



