THE WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. 187 



lateral toe much longer than inner, and nearly equal to the middle; tail very short, 

 broad, and nearly even, the feathers soft and truncate ; wings reaching nearlv to the 

 end of the tail, long and acute, the first primary one-third of (or less) the third, or 

 longest. 



SITTA CAROLINENSIS. Gmelin. 

 The White-bellied Nuthatch. 



Sitta Carolinensis, Latham. Ind. Orn., I. (1790) 262. Wilson, Am. Orn., I. 

 (1808) 40. Nutt. Man., I. (1832) 581. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 299; V. (1839) 47s! 



DESCRIPTION. 



Above ashy-blue ; top of head and neck black ; under parts and sides of head, to 

 a short distance above the eye, white ; under tail coverts and tibial feathers brown ; 

 concealed primaries white ; bill stout. 



Length, about six inches ; wing, about three and three-quarters inches. 



Hpb. Eastern North America to the high central plains. West of this, replaced 

 by S. aculeata. 



This species is a not uncommon one in New England, 

 where it is found through the winter. In the more north- 

 ern districts, it is a summer resident; and it sometimes 

 breeds as far south as Massachusetts. A nest was found in 

 Cambridge, Mass., in June, 1865. It was made in an exca- 

 vation in a dead tree (or rather stump), which was carried 

 to the depth of perhaps eight inches. The nest was com- 

 posed of soft grasses, hairs, and a few feathers: these were 

 arranged compactly in the bottom of the hole to the depth 

 of perhaps an inch and a half. The eggs were six in num- 

 ber, four of them are now before me : they are ovoidal in 

 shape, of a beautiful roseate- white color, and covered more 

 or less thickly with fine spots and dashes of light-reddish. 

 Their dimensions are .80 by .61 inch, .80 by .60 inch, .78 

 by .58 inch, .75 by .57 inch. Another specimen, collected 

 in the Adirondack Mountains, is marked more sparingly 

 with coarser and darker spots : its dimensions are .70 by 

 .57 inch. 



The habits of this species are very similar to those of the 

 small woodpeckers ; and they are equally industrious with 

 those birds in their search for the larvae and eggs of insects, 

 which they obtain by boring in the bark, and knocking off 



