NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



white, speckled and blotched with reddish-brown, sometimes over the 

 whole surface but chiefly at the larger end, where the spots frequently 

 form a wreath. The number laid is five or six, size .78 by .62. The nest 

 is built in holes of trees and made of grasses, vegetable substances, and 

 lined with hair and feathers. Distributed throughout the wooded regions 

 of the West from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. 



Hab. Middle and Western Provinces, United States; south to Cordova, Mexico. • 



52. Red-bellied Nuthatch — sitta canadensis. Roseate tinge, thickly 

 covered with spots of reddish; four to six in number and measure about 

 .60 by .48. The eggs of this species are only distinguishable from 

 those of the White-bellied Nuthatch by their smaller size. Like that 

 bird also, its nest is dug in a low stump or decayed trunk of a tree. It is 

 warmly lined with feathers and hair. A common bird, though not abund- 

 ant throughout the whole of North America from Florida to high northern 

 regions, and from Atlantic to Pacific. 



Hab. Whole United States and British Provinces, north to Lake Winnipeg. 



53. Brown-headed Nuthatch — sitta pusilla. White, very thickly 

 sprinkled with reddish-brown dots; they appear almost a uniform chocolate 

 color; rounded oval, four to six in number and measure .60 by .50, not 

 much larger than those of the Humming Bird. The nest is excavated by the 

 birds themselves in the dead portion of a low stump or sapling, sometimes 

 only a few feet from the ground, and often at the height of forty or fifty 

 feet. The eggs are laid on the bare wood. Breeds abundantly in Florida, 

 South Carolina and Georgia. 



Hab. South Atlantic and Clulf States, Ohio, Kirtland; Michigan, Atkins. 



54. Pigmy Nuthatch — sitta pygm.*:a. Crystalline white, more or less 

 thickly covered with red spots, most numerous at the larger end ; the 

 number laid is from three to five, which resemble those of the red-bellied, 

 but are smaller and a little more pointed at one end, and measure about 

 .63 by .45. The nest is placed in the cavities of old trees, and like others 

 of this genus, is warmly constructed of feathers, wool, vegetable down, 

 hair, etc. This bird is found throughout the Pacific coast and on the 

 western slope of the Rocky Mountains, from Washington Territory to 



Southern California. Hab. western and Middle Provinces of United States; south to Xalapa. 



55. Brown Creeper — certhia familiaris rufa. Grayish- white, 

 sparsely sprinkled with reddish-brown, with or without a few larger and 

 paler spots, especially about the greater end. The eggs are from five to 

 seven in number, and measure .55 to .60 in length by .45 to. 50 in 

 breadth. Mr. William Brewster, who has made the most accurate obser- 

 vations of the nidification of this species in the pine woods of Maine, 



