BIRDS OF NEW YORK 495 



stout ; toes long, and their claws long, curved and compressed. The members 

 of this family are small in size like the titmice; their plumage is compact; 

 they are highly scansorial in habits, spending the greater portion of their 

 time climbing about the trunks and larger branches of trees, going down 

 the trunk head foremost or clinging to the underside of limbs with the head 

 hanging outward like true acrobats, seeking everywhere in the crevices 

 of the bark for the insects which constitute their principal food. In the 

 fall, however, they feed on various kinds of nuts and a few wild fruits, and 

 in the winter are easily attracted to the orchard and dooryard by bits of 

 suet or bones or scraps of meat fastened to the trees. Their voices are 

 rather unmelodious. They nest in hollows of trees and like the titmice 

 lay numerous eggs, 7 to 9 being the usual complement. These eggs are 

 like the eggs of chickadees, finely speckled with brown. Like the titmice 

 and woodpeckers they are to be regarded among the most efficient guardians 

 of forest and orchard trees, and should be encouraged by every horticul- 

 turist to nest as near his orchards as possible. See Yearbook of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture 1900, pages 296-97. 



Sitta carolinensis carolinensis Latham 



White-breasted Nuthatch 



Plate 103 



Sitta carolinensis Latham. Index Orn. 1790. 1:262 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 48, fig. 91 

 Sitta carolinensis carolinensis A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. 

 p. 345. No. 727 



sitta, Lat. and Gr., a nuthatch 



Description. Top of head and neck deep black; upper parts bluish 

 gray; wing and tail feathers blackish but the outer webs of the wing feathers 

 and the central pair of tail feathers are the color of the back so that the 

 whole upper parts, excepting the top of the head and neck, appear ashy 

 or bluish gray when the wings are closed; broad diagonal patch of white 

 on the outer tail feathers near the tip ; sides of the head and neck and under 

 parts white; crissum and base of under tail coverts rusty brown; bill dark 

 lead color; feet dark brown. Female: Similar but slightly duller; top 

 of the head washed with the color of the back. 



