S. CAROLINENSIS : WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 87 



Family SITTID^ : Nuthatches. 



WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



SiTTA CAROLINENSIS Gm. 



Chars. Upper parts, including central tail-feathers and much edging 

 of the wings, clear ashy-blue ; crown and nape glossy black ; 

 under parts, including sides of head and neck, white, variegated 

 on the flanks and under tail-coverts with rusty brown. Wings 

 and their coverts blackish, with the pale edgings already men- 

 tioned, the concealed bases of the primaries, and a bar on their 

 outer webs near the end, white ; inner secondaries variegated 

 with black and bluish. Tail, excepting central feathers, black, 

 each feather marked with white in increasing amount. Female 

 and young similar, but the coloration less pronounced, the black 

 of the head, in particular, being impure, defective, or entirely 

 wanting. Length, 5.50-6.00 ; extent, 10.50-11.00; wing, 3.50- 

 3.75 ; tail, 2.00 ; bill, 0.60 ; tarsus, 0.60. 



The geographical distribution of this species does not 

 appear to have been thoroughly worked out, at least 

 so far as its northern 

 limit of dispersion is 

 concerned. The name 

 does not occur in any 

 of the lists which Al- 

 len gives of the birds 

 characterizing the sev- 

 eral Faunae of eastern 

 North America. 



In New England 

 the White-bellied Nuthatch is a common species of 

 general distribution, probably residing all the year 



Fig. 19. — White-bellied Nuthatch. 

 (Natural size.) 



