PSALTHIPARIIS MELAXOTIS— SITTA ACULEATA. 415 



PSALTEIPARUS MELANOTIS.'J 



Black-cared Titmouse. 



Parus melanotic, Hartlaub, Rev. Zool., 1844, 2l(J. 



Psaltriptnus mclanotis, BoNAP., Comp. Rend., 18.14, — .— Baird, B. N. Am., 18.58, 

 . 380, i>l. Liii, tig. 3; Cat. N. Am. B., 185!), Xo. 297; Review, 18C4, 84.— B. B. 

 & R., Hist. N. Am. B., I, 1874, 108, pi. Vii, fig. 8. 



On the 4th of August, 1868, we saw near our camp, on the eastern 

 slope of the Ruby Mountains, wliat was unquestionably a bird of this 

 species, since the black patch on the ear-coverts was distinctly visible. Its 

 restless movements made ineffectual our attempt to shoot it, and before we 

 were prepared for another shot it disappeared among the cedar trees, and 

 could not be found again. This we believe is tlie first known instance of 

 its occurrence within the limits of the United States, though it has been 

 obtained near our border, and is a common bii'd of the high mountain 

 portions of northern Mexico; but it probably occurs in greater or less 

 numbei-s, in suitable places, throughout our southern Rocky Mountains. 



Family SITTID.E— Nuthatches, 

 sitta carolinensis. 



n^hite-hclliod Niitliatrli. 



/?. aculeata — Sletider-hilled Xuthatch. 



Sitta aculeata, Cassin, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. PhilaiL, 18.5(5, 254.— Baibd, B. N. Am., 

 1858, 375, pi. xxxiii, fig. 3; Cat. N, Am. B., 185',), No. 278; Review, 18G4, 

 80. — Cooper, Oru. Cal., 54. 



Sitta carolinensis var. aculeata, Allen, Bull. Mas. Comp. Zool., 1872, 174.— CoUES, 

 Key, 1872, 83; Check List, 1873, No. 3Sa; B. N.W., 1874, 24.— B. B. & R., 

 Hist. N. Am. B., I, 1874, 117, pi. viii, flg. 2 (bill only).- Henshaw, 187.5, 173. 



Being strictly a pinicoline species, this Nuthatch was observed in 

 abundance only on the Sierra Nevada, being comparatively rare on the 

 Wahsatch and Uintah mountains, while none were seen in the intervening 

 region, not even among the most extensive cedar and pinou woods. In 

 its manners it is a counteqiart of the eastern form, but its notes are mark- 

 edly different, being much weaker, and some of them of another character 



