BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



THE CREEPER FAMILY 



But one species, difficult to discover but easily recognized by its 

 habit of clinging to the tree trunks and creeping about on the bark. Bill 

 long, sharp, slender; tail-feathers stiff and pointed. 



190. California Brown Creeper; Certhia familiaris occidentalis 

 Ridgw. 



Length, five inches. Above streaked brow^nish and grayish, rusty 

 colored on the rump. Below dull whitish, line of white over eye, and 

 light wing markings. Breeds in the mountains; south in winter in the 

 coniferous region and other timbered districts. The Sierra Creeper has 

 been differentiated as an intermediate race form. 



THE NUTHATCH AND TITMOUSE FAMILY 

 Small, mostly dull-colored birds, most of which peck the bark for 

 their insect food. Vivacious, frequently clinging head downward; songs 

 and calls simple and generally unmusical. Birds of the woods and groves. 

 The nuthatches may be readily distinguished by their general resemblance 

 to a diminutive woodpecker with a plain bluish gray back. 



191. Slender-billed Nuthatch; Sitta carolmensis aculeata (Cass.). 

 The western race of the common eastern white-breasted nuthatch. 



Length about five and a half inches. Top of head and neck black; dark 

 grayish in the female. Breast white. Tail conspicuously marked with 

 white. A resident of the mountains and foothills in the forested parts of 

 the State. 



192. Red-breasted Nuthatch; Sitta canadensis Linn. 



Length about four and a half inches. Top of head black in male 

 and gray in female; a line of black through the eye, extending back on 

 neck, and a white line above it. Below rufous or pale reddish brown. 

 Breeds in the high mountains, south in winter through the wooded valley 

 districts. 



193. Pygmy-Nuthatch; Sitta p^gmcra Vig. 



Length, under four inches. Head brownish or bluish gray; breast 

 pale buff, sometimes reddish brown; base of middle tail-feathers white. 

 Rather rare in the mountains of northern California, south in winter in 

 valleys to the region about Monterey. More abundant on the eastern 

 slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 



194. Plain Titmouse; Parus inornatus Gamb, 



Birds of the titmouse group do not live upon the bark of trees as do 

 the nuthatches, although their nests are made in holes in rotten stumps, 

 and many of them are in the habit of pecking at the bark for food. The 



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