122 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sitta pusilla, Lath. 



BBOWN-HEAOEO NVTHATCH. 



Sitta pusilla, Lath. Iiul. Orn. I, 1790, 263. — Wils. Am. Orn. 11, 1810, 105, pi. xv. — 

 Am. Orn. Biog. 11, 1834, pi. v.xxv. — In. BinlsAm. IV, pi. ccxlix. — Reich. Hnndb. 

 1853, 153, tab. dxiv, tigs. 35tJ7, 35(i«. — Baihd, Biids N. Am. 1858, 377 ; Review, 88. 

 — ScLAl EU, fatal. IbOl, 15. 'v 



Sp. Char. Aliovo a.«liy-l>lii<.' ; top of head and upper part of neck rather life'ht liair- 

 browii, divided on the nape by wliitc. Eye involved in the brown, which is deeper on 

 the lower border. Beneath muddy-whiti.<h ; sides and behind paler than the back. 

 Middle tail-feathers almost entirely like the back. Length of female, 4 inches; wing, 2.50. 



Hau South Atlantic and Gulf States. Ohio! Kihtland. 



Habits. The Drown-headed Nuthatch ha.s a much more restricted distri- 

 bution than the other members of this family in this country. The speci- 

 mens in tlie Smithsonian Museum are chiefly from Georffia. Wilson met 

 with it in Virginia, and .states that it is found in the other Southern States. 

 I have received its eggs from Cheraw, S. ('., and from Florida. 



Wilson's description of its habits makes them almost identical with those 

 of Sittn canadcniii.% while its notes are more .shrill and chirping. Like that 

 bird, it is very fond of the seeds of the pines. Wherever found, it is a con- 

 stant resident, and does not migrate. 



Audubon states that this bird never goes farther north than Afaryland, 

 and that it is the most !d)undant in Florida, (leorgia, and the Carolinas. 

 In Louisiana it is mre, and it is not found in Kentucky. Its notes, 

 he states, are several octaves higher than tl',.se of the mrolinribsis, and 

 more shrill, and at least an t)ctave and a half higher than those of the 

 cmiadcnsis. 



Although apparently preferring pines and pine barrens, it by no means 

 cfinfines it.soll' to them, but is not uniiv(|uently seen on low«trecs and fences, 

 mounting, descending, and turning in every di:*e('tii»n, and with si much (juick- 

 ness of motion as to render it dittictdt to shoot it. It examines every hole 

 and every crevice in the bark of tri'es, as well as their leaves and twigs, 

 among wliich it finds almndiince of food at all seasons. I hiring the breeding- 

 season they go about in pairs and sire very noisy. Their only note is a mo- 

 notonous cry, described as resembling (lend, deiul. ]Mr. Audubon further 

 states that when the first brofnl leaves the nest, the young birds keep to- 

 gether, moving from tree to tree with iUl the activity of their jiarents, wiio 

 join them when tiie secimd '.-...ud is alile to keep them company. In Florida 

 they [Kiir in the beginning of Felirtiary, having eggs as early as the middle 

 of that month. In South Carolina they breed on<^ month hiter. Their nest 

 is usually excavated by the birds them.selves in the dead portion of a low 

 stump or sajiling, .sometimes oidy a few feet from the ground, but not unfre- 

 (piently at the lieight of thirty or forty feet. Both birds are said to work in 



