°Sq1 1 Nelson AiND Palmer on Five Neiv Birds from Mexico. AC 



Jalisco, on the more arid southwestern border of the tableland 

 region. 



Sitta carolinensis mexicana, subsp. nov. 



Type No. 131515 (J,U. S. National Museum, Department of Agri- 

 culture Collection, from Mt. Orizaba, Puebla, Mexico, April 26, 1893. 

 Collected by E. W. Nelson. (Original No. 1104.) 



Measurements (^ taken from dry skin) : Wing, S9 mm. (3.50 in.) ; tarsus, 

 19 mm. (.75 in.) ; culmen, 19.3 mm. (.76 in.) ; bill from nostril, 13 mm. 

 (.52 in.). 



Color. — Above similar to Sitta carolinensis aculeata including the dark 

 markings on the tertials. Under surface decidedly ashy. Flanks dull 

 bluish gray nearly concolor with the middle of the back. 



The White-bellied Nuthatches from the mountains of south- 

 central Mexico present certain characteristics by which they 

 may be distinguished from either of the two recognized forms 

 of the United States. The Mexican bird has a beak averaging 

 rather smaller than that of Sitta carolinensis from the eastern 

 United States. With this character it combines the color of the 

 dorsal surface and dark markings on tertials of S. aculeata, and 

 differs from both northern forms in having only the chin and 

 throat pure white — the rest of the lower parts in the present 

 form being washed with a distinct ashy shade, heaviest on the 

 flanks and posteriorly. 



This new race is a common breeding resident on Mt. Orizaba 

 in Puebla and also in the high mountains about the Valley of 

 Mexico, and is found thence westerly along the Sierra Madre 

 at least to the Volcano of Colima. It was also seen in the moun- 

 tains of Hidalgo. Beyond this the work has not extended far 

 enough to determine the limits between it and the other forms. 



