24 SITTID^ — SITTA CAEOLINENSIS VAE. ACULEATA. 



152.— AUD., Syu. 1839, 167.— AuD., B. Am. iv, 18J2, 175, pi. 947.— Bd., B. N. A. 

 1858, 374, pi. 33, fig. 4 ; Eev. 18G4, 86.— Maxim., J. f. O. vi, 1853, 106.- SCL,, Ibis, 

 Apr. 1865.— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 187-2, 174 (Eastera Kansas).- S.sow, B. 

 Kans. 1873, 6. — Scott, Pr. Bost. Soc. Oct. 1872 (breeding in mountains of West 

 Virginia).— Trippe, ibid. 1872, 236 (Iowa).— JUyn., B. Fla. 1872, 35.— Coues, 

 Key, 1872, 83, tig. 26 ; and of writers. 

 Sitla melanocephala, Vieill., Gal. Ois. i, 1834, 171, pi. — . 



Mah. — Eastern United States and British Provinces. West to the Lower Missouri. 

 Not noticed by either Expedition. 



Excepting the lower valley, the species is replaced by the follo^ping in 

 the Missouri region : 



SITTA CAEOLINENSIS var. ACULEATA, (Cass.) Allen, 

 Slender-billed Nnthatcli. 



Sitla aculeata, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad, viii, 1856, 254.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 375, pi. 33, f. 3. 



Kex>-., p. R. R. Rep. X, part iv, 26, pi. 33, f. 4.— Hbehm., ibid, part vi, 55. — 

 Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 193.— Bd., Rev. 1864, 86.— CouES, 

 Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 78.— CoOP., Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 74; B. Cal. i, 1870, 54.— 

 AilfEN, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 195.— Meur., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 672. 



Sitta earoUiiensis, Nutt., Man. 2d ed. 1840, i, 695 (west coast). — Newb., P. E. E. Rep. vi, 

 1857, 79 (western).— (?) ScL., P. Z. S. 1856, 293 ; 1858, 300 ; 1859, 363, 373 (Mex- 

 ico).— (?) SuMicH., Mem. Bost. Soc. i, 1869, 544 (Vera Cruz). 



Sitta caroUnenais var. aculeata, Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. 1872, 174.— CoUES, Key, 1872, 83. 



Hob. — Middle and Western Provinces, United States; south to Cordova, Mexico. 



V-^ 



Xot obtained by Lieiiteiiaiit Warren'.i Expedition. 



Later Expeditions. — 62297, Lower Geyser Basin, Wyoming (Mei'riam). 



The slender-billed form is as abundant in the wooded regions of the 

 West as its Eastern representative. Its habits are precisely the same. 

 Neither variety appears to extend much, if auy, north of the United 

 States, in this respect differing from 8. canadewsis. 



The distinction between the two varieties consists mainly in the slen- 

 derer bill of var. aculeata. Since its first introduction into the system, 

 by Mr. Cassin, in 1856, it has been currently rated as a species, until 

 reduced to its proper pcsition by Mr. Allen and myself, about simulta- 

 neously. Dr. Sclater had, however, previously expressed strong doubts 

 of its validity, althougli he did not formally make the reduction, in his 

 admirable account of the genus Sitta, published in the Ibis, April, 1865. 



The range of the typical carolinenms meets that of aculeata in the re- 

 gion embraced in the present report ; the former bird being found in 

 Kansas and Missouri, but apparently not far up the river. 



The nidiflcation of the Nuthatches is similar iu most respects to that 

 of the Titmice. They build in holes of trees, constructing a shallow 

 nest of grasses and similar vegetable substances, lined with hair or 

 feathers. The eggs of the present species are five or six in number, 

 white or creamy-white in color, speckled and blotched with reddisb- 

 brown and lavender, sometimes over the whole surface, but oftenest 

 chiefly about the larger end, where they frequently form, or tend to 

 form, a wreath. They measure 0.75 to 0.82 in length, by 0.55 to 0.63 in 

 breadth. 



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