BIRDS OF NEW YORK 499 



honk. When moving downward, he always advances head first, and never 

 in the opposite position, as the woodpeckers do. Sometimes his diet is 

 slightly varied. He never refuses raw meat; and when in Lewis county, 

 New York, during the latter part of December 1877, I found him eating 

 the beech nuts, in company with the Red-headed woodpeckers and with 

 evident enjoyment. The stomachs of the specimens shot were found 

 distended by those nuts. Sometimes, during storms, in winter, the trees 

 become so thickly coated with ice that the woodpeckers and creeping 

 birds, since nature has neglected to supply them with adjustable ice spurs 

 suitable for such emergencies, are unable to climb upon the icy trees, 

 and consequently are obliged to desist from their usual vocations and betake 

 themselves to other situations in quest of food. On such occasions the 

 nuthatches seem to be particularly distressed, flying about, uttering loud 

 cries, and alighting freely upon the roofs of buildings." (Mearns, " Birds 

 of the Hudson Highlands.") 



Sitta canadensis Linnaeus 

 Red-breasted Nuthatch 



Plate 103 



Sitta canadensis Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:177 



De Kay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 49, fig. 88 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 346. No. 728 



Description. Decidedly smaller than the White-breasted nuthatch; 

 upper parts bluish gray but deeper and bluer than the White-breasted 

 nuthatch; wing feathers fuscous, edged with color of the back; central 

 tail feathers like the back, others black, the 2 outer pairs with white 

 patches; top of head and neck black, also broad stripe through the eye and 

 along the head and neck; stripe from base of bill over the eye and down 

 the side of the crown, white; under parts rusty or reddish brown; almost 

 white on the throat and side of the neck. Female and young: Similar, 

 but the top of the head more like the color of the back and the rest of the 

 plumage duller than in the male. 



Length 4.5-5 inches; extent 8-8.5; wing 2.6; tail 1.5; bill .5. 



Distribution. This species inhabits North America, breeding in the 



Canadian zone from the Yukon valley, southern Mackenzie, central Kee- 

 32 



