The Nuthatch Family 65 



protest of the sparrow hawk as you approach her nest 

 or young. Doctor Chapman says of the brown heads: 

 "They are talkative sprites, and, like a group of school 

 children, each one chatters away without paying the 

 slightest attention to what his companions are saying." 



The fourth member of the Sitting subfamily in America 

 is the pigmy nuthatch, known scientifically as Sitta pyg- 

 m&a, a genuine westerner, not known east of the plains. 

 However, in the Rocky Mountain district he is an abundant 

 species, his range, east and west being from the plains to 

 the Pacific coast, and north and south from the Canadian 

 boundary to the mountains of Mexico. Swinging and 

 gliding about among the pines, performing the same antics 

 as his eastern kinsmen, he utters a cheery whistle, that 

 may be translated, "Whit, whit, whit." His movements 

 are often so rapid that he is difficult to follow with the 

 eye as he flits from one tree to another or dashes amid 

 the branches. He scarcely remains quiet long enough 

 for you to note his markings and settle his identity, but 

 once you are sure of him, you will never mistake him 

 for another bird. 



In Colorado there is little of a migratory movement 

 even up and down the mountains among these interest- 

 ing bir diets. In the winter a few descend from the heights 

 and dwell on the plains, where the weather is not so rigor- 

 ous. On the approach of spring they again hie up into 

 the mountains, spending the summer there and rearing 

 their pretty bairns. However, the majority of them 

 remain in the mountains all winter, braving the bitterest 



