NUTHATCHES. 33 



hatches is similar in most respects to that of the Titmice. They 

 build in holes of trees, constructing a shallow nest of grasses and 

 similar vegetable substances, lined with hair or feathers. The eggs 

 of the present species are five or six in number, white or creamy- 

 white in color, speckled and blotched with reddish-brown and lav- 

 ender, sometimes over the whole surface, butoftenest chiefly about 

 the larger end, where they frequently form, or tend to form, a 

 wreath. They measure 0.75 to 0,82 in length, by 0.55 to 0.63 in 

 breadth."t 



52. SITTA CANADENSIS. 



EED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



This bird ''is resident in New England, breeding abundantly 

 in the northern portions. Audubon gives an interesting note of its 

 nidification : "I found it building its nest," he says, "near East 

 port, in Maine, on the 19th of May, before the Bluebird had made 

 its appearance there, and while much ice still remained on the 

 northern exposures. The nest is dug in a low dead stump, seldom 

 more than four feet from the ground, both the male and the female 

 working by turns until they have got to the depth of about fourteen 

 inches. The eggs, four in number, are small an 1 of a white color,- 

 tinged with a deep blush and sprinkled with reddish dots. They 

 raise, I believe, only one brood in a season." The eggs are only • 

 distinguishable from those of S. caroUnensis by their smaller size, 

 averaging about 0.60 by 0.48; the difference is, however, quite ap- 

 preciable on comparison. The amount of speckling is undeter- 

 mined, but the surface is generally pretty evenly covered. They 

 are from four to six in number." — CouES, Birds of the North- 

 WEST, p. 25. 



53. SITTA PUSILLA. 



BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 



"Audubon states that this bird never goes farther north than 

 Maryland, and that it is the most abundant in Florida, Georgia and 

 the Carolinas. *** Their nest is usually excavated by the birds 



tFrom I$iRDSop ths Nortwest, a han't book of the OruUhology of the Region drained by the 

 Missouri River aod iw Tributaries. Bj Elliott Couea. Washington : OuTernment Printing Office. 

 i874. (p. 1!4.) 



