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U. S. p. R. K. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ^ZOOLOGY — GHJERAL REPORT. 



List of specimens. 



SITTA CANADENSIS, Linn. 



Red-bellied Nuthatch. 



Sitta canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 177.— Ncttall, Man. I, 1832, 583.— Am>. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 24 : V, 



474 ; pi. 108.— Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 179 ; pi. 248 Bon. Consp. 1850, 227. 



Sitta varia, Wils. Am. Orn. I, 1808, 40 ; pi. ii. 

 Sitta stulta, Vieill. Nouv. Dict.(.') 



Sp. Ch. — Above ashy blue. Top of head black ; a white line above and a black one through the eye. 

 under parts brownish rusty. Length about 4J inches ; wing, 2§. 



Hab. — North America to the Rocky mountains. Probably also to the Pacific. 



Chin white ; rest of 



Fourtk quill longest ; third a little shorter^ tut longer than fifth ; second intermediate 

 between sixth and seventh. Above ashy blue. Top of head from bill to occiput deep black ; 

 sides of head and chin white, with a narrow black band from the bill through the eye ; under 

 parts generally yellowish rusty, deepest towards the tail. Under -wing coverts tinged with 

 black. Wing feathers brown, edged with the color of the back, and without white or black 

 marking. Tail feathers narrowly tipped with bluish ; cefntral one like the black ; rest of 

 feathers black'; the first and second with a subterminal, the third with a terminal bar of white. 



The female has the black of the head tinged with dark ash ; the under surfaces lighter, more 

 of a muddy white. 



I am unable to detect any difierenoe between eastern and western specimens. One of the latter 

 (6839) has the bill much stouter than any others I have seen from either side of the continent, 

 being q[uite as broad at the base as in a much larger S. carolinensis from Pennsylvania. 



The rusty belly and white streak over the eye, with the black one through it, will readily 

 distinguish this from any other North American species. 



