DALMATIAN NUTHATCH. 53 



trace it to Smyrna, and along the shores of Asiatic Turkey to Syria, 

 where it is very common, that country also giving its specific and 

 French name. Dr. Leith Adams informs me that it is pretty common 

 in Affghanistan. 



The three European Nuthatches form an interesting illustration of 

 the adaptation of structure to climate of nearly allied species. The 

 present bird is very much larger and stronger than the European 

 form. As will be observed farther on, its habits differ, inasmuch as 

 it does not frequent trees, but rocks and ruins. The northern form 

 and that which inhabits Britain are so closely allied to each other, 

 that the best ornithologists have denied, and I think with good reason, 

 their specified distinction. But the three birds have all a strongly- 

 marked character in common. The coloration varies, but it is disj)osed 

 after the same plan, the blue slate back, and the dirty white or russet 

 abdomen, and the characteristic black mark on the side of the head 

 of each. These are instances in which there can be no objection 

 urged as to the possibility, or rather the strong probability, of a 

 common origin. But then we have no evidence of the stronger bird 

 in the south, or the weaker one in the north, diverging into any 

 different forms. The variation is adaptive and final, and the species 

 or varieties are constant. 



"Few birds," says the Rev. H. B. Tristram, in his account of the 

 Birds of Southern Palestine, (Ibis, vol. i., p. 27,) "have interested me 

 more than the Dalmatian Nuthatch. I had good opportunities of 

 observing its habits in the south of the Morea in winter, and I 

 encountered it again in the hill country of Judaea. Unlike our species 

 it is confined to the most barren and rocky regions, and runs up and 

 down the stones with wondrous agility, descending head downwards, 

 and then by a sudden bound flying to the foot of the next rock, 

 which it climbs and runs down after the same fashion, searching the 

 crevices as it goes for small beetles, with which the stomach of those 

 I examined were filled. In summer and winter alike they were always 

 in pairs, never (as Sitta europced) in small flocks. The note is louder 

 than that of our species, and much resembles the call of the Spotted 

 Woodpecker." 



The following account given by Lord Lilford, in his descriptions of 

 the birds observed by him in the Ionian Islands, (Ibis, vol. ii., page 

 232,) is somewhat different: — "Sitta syriaca is common in certain 

 localities in Epirus, particularly amongst the stony and precipitous 

 hills near Santa Quaranta, where I have frequently observed it in 

 small parties of five or six, flitting about and busily examining the 

 holes and crevices of the rocks. It is a lively and restless bird, and 



