114 



XOKTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta enroUnetisis 



(Jknujs sitta, Lixx.kls. 



Sitta, Iass.va'h, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Agassi/.) 



Oe.n. Char. Bill sul)ulatt', acutt-ly poinu-d, compressed, about a.*« long a.** the head; 



eulnien and commissure nearly 

 ■:^ '- -^^ -• — . ^^ " ^r- . -: ^;,:^-^:^^ straijfht ; j^'onys convex and as- 

 cending ; nostrils covered by a 

 tuil of bri.stles directed forward. 

 Tarsi stout, scutellate, about etjual 

 ^^} the middle toe, nnich shorter 

 than the hinder, the claw of which 

 is half the t»»tal length. Outer 

 lateral toe nuich longer than in- 

 ner, and nearly ecjual to the mid- 

 dle. Tail very short, ijroad, and 

 nearly even ; the feathers soft and 

 truncate. Wings reaching nearly 

 to the end of the tail, long and 



acute, the tiist primary one third of (or less) the third, or longest. Iris brown. Nest in 



holes of trees. Eggs white, spottetl with reddish. 



The North American species may be arranged as follows : — 



A* Crown l)lack. 



S. carolinensis. Belly white ; no black stripe through eye. 



Bill, .70 long. .17 deep. Black spots on tertials sharply defim d. 

 Ilab. Eastern Province North America . . . var. ca roli n e it sis. 

 Bill, .80 long, .14 deep. Black spots on tertials obsolete Hah. Middle 

 and Western Province T'nited States, south to Cordova, Mexico, var. ac u! en fa. 

 S. canadensis. Belly brownish-rusty. A black stripe through eye. Hab. 

 Whole of North America. 

 B« Crown not black. 



S. pusilla. Crown light hair-brown ; hind toe much longer than the 

 middle one. Ilah. South Atlantic and (Julf States. 



S. pygmaea. (^-own greenish-plumbeous ; hind toe about equal to middle 

 one. JIab. Western and Middle Province United States, south to Xalapa. 



Sitta carolinensis, var. carolinensis, Lath. 



WHITE-BELLIEI) NUTHATCH. 



SittA €urop(va, var. 7, carol incnsis, Gm. S. N. I, 1788, 440. Siif^ carolinensis, Lath. Ind. 

 Oni. I, 171*0, 262; also of all other Anieri«an writers. — Reichexb.uh, Handbuch, 

 Abh. II, 1853, 153, tab. dxiii, figs. 3563, 3564. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 374, 

 pi. .xxxiii, fig. 4 ; Review, 86. — Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 106. Sitta melanocepJuda, 

 ViEiLL. Gal. I, 1834, 171, pi. elxxi. 



Other figures: Wilson, Am. Urn. 1, pi. ii, fig. 3. — Aud. Uru. Biog. II, pi. clii. — Ib. 

 B. A. IV, pi. cexlvii. 



Sp. Char. Above ashy-blue. Top of head ami neck black. Under parts and sides of 

 head to a short distance above the eye white. Under tail-coverta and tibial feathers 



