INSESSORES : CERTHIAD^E. 



195 



two and a half inches ; the color above 

 dark brown, each feather streaked cen- 

 trally with whitish, and the rump rusty ; 

 the under parts, and a streak over the eye, 

 white; and the wings with a bar of red- 

 dish white across both webs. 



The Genus Sitta has the bill subulate, 

 acutely pointed, compressed, and about as 

 long as the head. 



The White-bellied Nuthatch, 5. caroli- 

 nensis, Gm., of North America east of the 

 Central Plains, is six inches long, the wing American Creeper, 



C. americana, 



three inches and three quarters ; the color 

 ashy blue above, the under parts Fig. n S . 



white, top of the head and neck 

 black. It moves along trunks 

 and branches with the greatest 

 facility, and at a little distance 

 is easily mistaken by the care- 

 less observer for a little wood- 

 pecker. The nest is made in 

 a hole excavated in a decayed 

 trunk or branch ; eggs five or 

 six, dull white, spotted with white at the larger end. 



The Slender-billed Nuthatch, 5. aculeata, Cass., of the 

 Pacific coast and eastward, is precisely similar to the pre- 

 ceding, but has the bill more slender. 



The Red-bellied Nuthatch, 5. canadensis, Linn., of 

 North America, is four and a half inches long, the wing 

 two and two thirds inches ; the color ashy blue above, top 

 of the head black, under parts brownish rusty. The nest 

 is made in a low stump ; eggs four, white, rose-tinged, 

 and sprinkled with reddish dots. Like other species of 

 its genus, the Red-bellied Nuthatch at night attaches its 

 feet to the bark, and sleeps with its head downwards 



White-bellied Nuthatch, 

 C. carolinensisy Gm. 



