188 SITTA 



Hob. Southern Siberia, Mongolia, N. China, and Japan. 



This, an eastern representative of S. ccesia, does not differ 

 from that species in habits. Specimens from Mongolia have 

 the abdomen and flanks darker coloured, and that figured 

 by Prjevalsky has these parts as dark as in S. ccesia. Those 

 from Hakodadi, Japan, have the under parts white, with the 

 very faintest tinge of buff on the abdomen, the forehead, and a 

 broad supercilium white, and very little chestnut on the flanks. 

 Others from Sapporo, Japan, have the upper parts similar, but 

 the abdomen is pale burl'. These run veiy small, measuring : 

 culmen 0'68 to 072, wing 3'2, tail 1*67 to 17, tarsus 0'68 to 

 07 inch. One specimen from Khobdo, Mongolia, has the upper 

 parts similar, but scarcely a trace of buff on the abdomen, it- 

 being nearly pure white, and measures only: culmen 07,. 

 wing 3'15, tail 1/65, tarsus 0'65 inch. These I take to be Sitta 

 amurensis clara, Stejn, but some of these birds have so little- 

 trace of buff on the abdomen that it is difficult to know whether 

 to refer them to uralensis or amurensis. 



280. THE NUTHATCH. 



SITTA OffiSIA. 



Sitta ccesia, Meyer and Wolf, Taschenb. Deutscli. Vogelk. i. p. 128- 

 (1870) ; Hewitson, i. p. 247, pi. 62 xii. fig. 4 ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. 

 pi. xxii ; Newton, i. p. 473 ; Dresser, iii, p. 175, pi. 119 ; Gadow, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 347 ; Saunders, p. 113 ; Lilford, ii. p. 112,. 

 pi. 51; S. europcea, nee. Linn. Naum. v. p. 377, Taf. 139; S. 

 sinensis, Verr. Nouv. Arch. Mus. Bull. vi. p. 34 (1871). 



Torchepot, French ; Trepadeira, Portug. ; Trepatroncos, Span. ; 

 Picchiotto, Ital. ; Spcchtmeise, Kleiber, German ; Bownklevcr,. 

 Dutch. 



arl. (Germany). Upper parts, wings, and tail as in S. europcea, but 

 the entire under parts except the chin and throat are pale ochreous cin- 

 namon ; bill brownish horn ; legs pale dull brown ; iris brownish. 

 Culmen 07, wing 3'3, tail T8, tarsus 0'8 inch. Sexes alike. 



. Great Britain and continental Europe down to Algeria, 

 and from the Canary Islands east to Persia, reappearing in China. 



In habits it agrees closely with S. europcea, and like that 

 species is not a true migrant, but only a wanderer in the 

 winter season. It frequents the same places, groves and 

 gardens, and also feeds on insects and their larvae, nuts, &c.,. 

 and its nest and eggs are also similar. 



