DESCRIPTIVE LIST 321 



It was composed of a mass of lichens, moss, feathers, grass, and a few rootlets. 

 The eggs were five in number, much resembling those of the Chickadee, but slightly 

 smaller. Another set of six, brought to him by a lad and said to have been found 

 in a nest placed in the crevice of one of the logs of a fence, were profusely spotted 

 with brown spots. Size .59 x .47. (See "Notes on Some Birds of the Great Smoky 

 Mountains," Ornithologist and Oologist, Dec., 1886, p. 179.) 



This is a curious little bird which uses its stiff tail-feathers for support while 

 climbing trees, much after the manner of a woodpecker. It always keeps working 

 upward, and upon reaching a point among the limbs it flies to the base of another 

 tree and again starts to climb aloft. 



56. FAMILY SITTID.XE. NUTHATCHES 



This is a small family of arboreal birds, with short, soft tail-feathers, rather 

 long, straight bills, long wings, and strong claws, which aid in climbing. The nasal- 

 tufts are well developed. The principal genus is the one which occurs in North 

 America. 



Genus Sitta (Linn.) 



This is an almost cosmopolitan genus, members of which occur in Europe, Asia, 

 and America. The characters are the same as those given for the family. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Top of head brown, the color extending unbroken to the eyes. Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



1. Top of head black or slaty, the color not extending unbroken to the eyes. See 2. 



2. Sides of head white, continuous with the white of throat. White-breasted Nuthatch, 



2. Sides of head with a dark (black or slaty) stripe, from bill through eye and down neck, thus 

 separating white of superciliary region from white of throat. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



326. Sitta carolinensis carolinensis (Lath.}. WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 



Description: Ad. c". Top of head shining black; rest of upperparts bluish gray; inner secon- 

 daries bluish gray, marked with black; wing-coverts and quills tipped with whitish; outer tail- 

 feathers black, with white patches near their tips; middle ones bluish gray; sides of head and 

 underparts white; lower belly and under tail-coverts mixed with rufous. Ad. 9 . Similar, but 

 black of head veiled by bluish gray. L., 6.07; T., 1.92; B., .70. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Eastern North America. 



Range in North Carolina. Resident throughout the State. 



The White-breasted Nuthatch is a common resident in timberlands throughout 

 the State. It also occurs in towns that are blessed with large shade trees. Usually 

 it may be seen in pairs running up and down the trunks and larger limbs, frequently 

 head downwards and always very busy. While thus engaged it utters constantly 

 its peculiar cry of quank, quank. 



This species nests in the natural cavities of trees, or in a hole excavated by the 

 bird itself. In this cavity a nest composed of feathers, hair, and dry leaves is 

 loosely put together, on which some six eggs are laid, usually in this State in April. 

 The eggs are white in ground-color, with somewhat of a rosy tinge, and are speckled 

 and spotted with reddish brown and purple. Size .77 x .56. 



21 



