SITTID^: NUTHATCHES. 269 



bands meeting narrowly across the chin, and nearly meeting on the nape. Crown and nape 

 clear ash. Back hair-brown. Wings and tail fuscous, with narrow pale ashy edgings of the 

 feathers ; outer webs and tips of outer tail-feathers, and inner webs of many wing-feathers, 

 whitish. Below, white, pure on throat and sides of neck, thence passing through lavender- 

 gray to rusty -brownish on iianksand crissum. Bill and feet black; iris brown. ? unknown : 

 probably not different. Young quite similar, having glossy black on the head before they are 

 fuUy feathered, but the black does not at first meet on the chin. Length about 4.00 ; wing 

 1.90 ; tail 2.25 ; bill 0.25, compressed, with very convex culmen and nearly straight under out- 

 line ; tarsus 0.60 ; middle toe and claw 0.45. A neat little tom-thumb, native of Mexico, 

 N. to Arizona and probably farther, rare ; I have seen but three specimens. 

 16. AURITABUS. (Lat. awi, ofgold, and^eww, atit; from the yellow head.) Gold-tits. Head 

 not crested. Wings pointed, the 2d quill being little shorter than the 3d ; the 1st spurious. 

 TaU little rounded, decidedly shorter than the wings. Bill not typically parine — extremely 

 acute, with straight or slightly concave under outline, and barely convex culmen, thus resem- 

 bling that of a Hehninthophaga ; longer and slenderer than usual in Parincs ; nostrils scarcely 

 concealed by the imperfect ruff. Tarsi relatively shorter than in the preceding genera. 

 Bright colors on head (yellow) and wing (red). Plumage comparatively compact; sexes 

 alike, but young very different from the adult. Size very small. General form sylvicoUne. 

 Nest globular, woven. Eggs spotted. One species, 

 56. A. fla'viceps. (Lat. flaviceps, yellow-head.) Gold-tit. ^ 9 : Upper parts ashy ; under 

 parts whitish ; wings and tail dusky, with hoary edging. Whole head rich yellow. Lesser 

 wing-coverts chestnut-red. Bill dark plumbeous; feet plumbeous. Length 4.00-4.25; 

 wing 1.80-2;00; tail 1.75-2.25. Young without red on wing or yellow on head; thus obscure 

 objects, known, however, by their generic characters. Adults vary in having the yellow 

 heightened to orange, or dull and greenish ; the red sometimes hsematitic ; and the shade of 

 the ashy clear and pure, or duU and brownish. Valley of the Eio Grande and Colorado, and 

 Lower California ; abundant iu chaparral, building in bushes a great globular nest of twigs, 

 lined with down and feathers ; eggs 4-6, pale bluish speckled with brown, 0.60 X 0.45. 



4. Family SITTID-^ : Nuthatches. 



Bill subcylindrical, tapering, compressed, slender, acute, nearly or about as long as the 

 head, culmen and commissure about straight, gonys long, convex, ascending (giving a sort of 

 recurved look to a really straight biU). Nostrils rounded, concealed by bristly tufts. Wings 

 long, pointed, with 10 primaries, the 1st very short or spurious ; tail much shorter than wings, 

 broad, soft, nearly even ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw, scutellate in front ; toes 

 all long, with large, much curved, compressed claws ; 1st toe and claw about equal to the 3d ; 

 2d and 4th toes very unequal in length. Plumage compact ; body flattened ; tongue horny, 

 acute, barbed. Nuthatches are amongst the most nimble and adroit of creepers ; they scramble 

 about and hang in every conceivable attitude, head downwards as often as otherwise. This is 

 done, too, without any help from the tail, — the whole tarsus being often applied to the sup- 

 port. They are chiefly insectivorous, but feed also on hard fi'uits ; and get their English name 

 from their habit of sticking nuts and seeds in cracks in bark, and hammering away with the 

 bill till they break the shell. They are very active and restless little birds, quite sociable, 

 ^ often going in troops, which keep up a continual noise ; lay 4-6 white, spotted eggs, in hollows 

 of trees. The family, as conventionally framed, is a small one, of less than thirty species, 

 among them a single remarkable Madagascar form (Hypositta), a genus peculiar to Australia 

 (SitteUd), and another confined to New Zealand (Acanthisitia) : but some of these (especially 

 AccmtMsitta) may not be SitHdce at all, and in any event the family is chiefly represented by 

 the genus Sitia, with some fifteen species of Europe, Asia, and North America. 



