122 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta pusilla, Lath. 



BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 



Sittapusilla, Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 263. — Wils. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 105, pi. xv. — 

 AuD. Orn. Biog. 11, 1834, pi. cxxv. — 1b. Birds Am. IV, pi. ccxlix. — Reich. Handb. 

 1853, 153, tab. dxiv, figs. 3567, 3568.— Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 377 ; Review, 88. 

 — kScLATEU, Catal. Ibbl, 15. 



Sp. Char. Above ashy-blue ; top of head and upper part of neck rather light hair- 

 brown, divided on the nape by white. Eye involved in the brown, which is deeper on 

 the lower border. Beneath muddy-whitish- sides and behind paler than the back. 

 Middle tail-feathei-s almost entirely like the back. Length of female, 4 inches ; wing, 2.5U. 



Hab South Atlantic and Gulf States. Ohio ! Kirtland. 



Habits. The Brown-headed Nuthatch has a much more restricted distri- 

 bution than the other members of this family in this country. The speci- 

 mens in the Smithsonian Museum are chiefly from Georgia. Wilson met 

 with it in Virginia, and states that it is found in the other Southern States. 

 I have received its eggs from Cheraw, S. C, and from Florida. 



Wilson's description of its habits makes them almost identical with those 

 of Sitta canadensis, while its notes are more shrill and chirping. Like that 

 bird, it is very fond of the seeds of the pines. Wherever found, it is a con- 

 stant resident, and does not migrate. 



Audubon states that tliis bird never goes farther north than Maryland, 

 and that it is the most abundant in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. 

 In Louisiana it is rare, and it is not found in Kentucky. Its notes, 

 he states, are several octaves higher than those of the carolinensis, and 

 more shrill, and at least an octave and a half higher than those of the 

 canadensis. 



Although apparently preferring pines and pine barrens, it by no means 

 confines itself to them, but is not unfrequently seen on low trees and fences, 

 mounting, descending, and turning in every direction, and with so much quick- 

 ness of motion as to render it diihcult to shoot it. It examines every hole 

 and every crevice in the bark of trees, as well as their leaves and twigs, 

 among which it finds abundance of food at all seasons. During the breeding- 

 season they go about in pairs and are very noisy. Their only note is a mo- 

 notonous cry, described as resembling clend, dend. Mr. Audubon further 

 states that wdien the first brood leaves the nest, the young birds keeji to- 

 gether, moving from tree to tree with all the activity of their jjarents, who 

 join them when the second brood is able to keep them company. In Florida 

 they pair in the beginning of February, having eggs as early as the middle 

 of that month. In South Carolina they breed one month later. Their nest 

 is usually excavated by the birds themselves in the dead portion of a low 

 stump or sapling, sometimes only a few feet from the ground, but not unfre- 

 quently at the height of thii'ty or forty feet. Both birds are said to work in 



