April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. 6t 



still clung together, and the old birds were seen continually feeding their 

 ofifspring. 



In differentiating this race great stress has been laid upon the ab- 

 sence of white markings on the primary coverts of albescens, a charac- 

 teristic which is not borne out by the series before me, for out of four- 

 teen specimens, young and old, there are just three that lack these 

 markings. In most cases they are quite as distinct and apparent as in 

 any specimens of zelotes, or the two examples of vionlana in my collec- 

 tion. 



Certhia familaris montana Ridgway. Rocky Mountain Creeper. 



A creeper submitted to Mr. Ridgway and pronounced by him to he 

 montana, was secured in Miller Canvon on March r, 1903, at an altitude 

 of 5500 feet. Another bird practically the same in markings and colora- 

 tion, and referred to above, was taken on March 3rd in the same canyon. 

 These were probably migrants going further north, and they may be of 

 regular occurrence in this region during the migrations. The paler 

 coloration, above and below, longer and more slender bill, and generally 

 larger size, serves to distinjjuish this race from the breeding bird (albescens) 

 of the mountains of Southern Arizona. 



Sitta carolinensis nelsoni Mearns. Rocky Mountain Nuthatch. 



Resident throughout the mountains, though most abundant in the 

 higher pine regions. During the cold weather it is quite common in the 

 oaks along the base of the mountains, but though a few breed there, the 

 majority of them ascend to a higher altitude in the summer. Several 

 were seen hard at work excavating for their nests on April 6th ; and a set 

 of eggs was secured by O. W. Howard on April 19, 1902. They seem to 

 be at all times rather solitary birds, and though a single one may occa- 

 sionally be seen in a flock of Pygmy Nuthatches or Chickadees, I cannot 

 recall ever seeing more than a pair of them together. Birds taken in 

 August and September are much darker than spring specimens, and 

 some males, possibly immature, have the black of the crown extending 

 in disconnected spots on to the dorsum. 



Sitta canadensis Linnaeus. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



On April 6, 1902, I secured four Red-breasted Nuthatches from a 

 flock of a dozen or more feeding in some pines in a steep, narrow canyon, 

 at an altitude of about 8500 feet. This is the only occasion on which I 

 have seen the species in the Huachucas, and from the scarcity of records 

 it would seem to be of rare occurrence anywhere in Arizona. 



Sitta pygmaea Vigors. Pygmy Nuthatch. 



An abundant resident, though restricted entirely to the higher parts 

 of the range and rarely descending as low as 6000 feet, the Pygmy Nut- 

 hatch is seen and heard everywhere in the pine regions : going about in 

 large flocks and travelling rapidly and restlessly from tree to tree. Dur- 

 ing the migrations they seem to form a sort of nucleus for other birds 

 to gather around, and are usually accompanied by a number of migrating 

 warblers vireos, etc. Many of them remain in small flocks up to the 

 middle of May, though others may be seen at work at their nests in some 

 old stump early in April ; so by the time the last of them are paired off, 

 those that first went to work are nearly ready to appear with their 

 Ijroods, and there is consequently hardly any time when Pygmy Nut- 

 hatches are not to be seen in flocks. 



