SPECIES 2. SITTA VARIA. 



RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 



[Plate II. Fig. 4.] 



Sitta Canadensis, Biuss. in, p. 592. Small Nuthatch, LATH, i, 

 65l.Sitta Varia, BART.^. 289. 



THIS bird is much smaller than the last, measuring only four 

 inches and a half in length, and eight inches in extent. In the 

 form of its bill, tongue, nostrils, and in the colour of the back 

 and tail-feathers, it exactly agrees with the former; the seconda- 

 ries are not relieved with the deep black of the other species, 

 and the legs, feet, and claws, are of a dusky greenish yellow; 

 the upper part of the head is black, bounded by a stripe of white 

 passing round the frontlet; a line of black passes through the eye 

 to the shoulder; below this is another line of white; the chin is 

 white; the other under parts a light rust colour; the primaries 

 and whole wings a dusky lead colour. The breast and belly 

 of the female is not of so deep a brown, and the top of the head 

 less intensely black. 



This species is migratory, passing from the north, where they 

 breed, to the southern states in October, and returning in April. 

 Its voice is sharper, and its motions much quicker than those of 

 the other, being so rapid, restless and small, as to make it a diffi- 

 cult point to shoot one of them. When the two species are in 

 the woods together, they are easily distinguished by their voices, 

 the note of the least being nearly an octave sharper than that of 

 its companion, and repeated more hurriedly. In other respects 

 their notes are alike unmusical and monotonous. Approaching 

 so near to each other in their colours and general habits, it is 

 probable that their mode of building, &c. may be also similar. 



