FAM. in. NUTBATCHES AND CBICKADEES 59 



A. Under parts generally with much rusty brown ; crown black 



(male), or bluish-gray {female) ; a white stripe over eye 



2. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



A. -Crown and sides of head brown, without stripes 



3. Brown-headed Nuthatch. 



B. Head conspicuously crested ;2 throat and under parts nearly white, 



with rusty-brown sides i. Tufted Titmouse. ^^^ 



B. Head without crest ; throat black or dusky. (C.) /^ '\ 



C. Top of head brown ; sides of body chestnut ^^ \ 



7. Hudsonian Chickadee. 2 



C. Top of head black. (D.) 



D. Greater wing coverts with whitish edges 5. Chickadee. 



D. Greater wing coverts without whitish edges. .6. Carolina Chickadee. 



1. White-breasted Nuthatch (727. Sltta caroUnensis). — A 

 short-tailed, tree-creeping, bluish-backed, black-crowned, white- 

 bellied bird, with brown blotches on the under tail coverts. 

 The sides of the head are 



■white like the throat and -*«^fc» ^^ 



breast, and the back neck 



black like the crown. The 



female has the black not 



so intense. The nuthatches 



are peculiar in their ability 



to run along tree trunks 



in all directions, with the 



head downward as often 



as upward. They are not Whita-breasted Nuthatch 



singers, but have a call 



note of quanJc qnnnk, which they repeat with no reference to 

 the position of their body. 



Length, 6 ; wing, 3^ (3.V-3|) ; tail, 2 ; tarsus, % ; culmen, J. Eastern 

 United States from Georgia to the Dominion o£ Canada; generally resident 

 throughout. The Florida White-breasted Nuthatch (727''. S. c. dtkinsi) 

 is somewhat smaller and has the wing coverts and the quills very slightly, 

 if at all, tipped with whitish. Wing less than 3J ; tail, 1|. It is found 

 from South Carolina to Florida. 



2. Red-breasted Nuthatch (728. Sitta canaih'nsiii). — A short- 

 tailed, tree-creeping, bluish-backed, brownish-red-breasted bird, 

 with the black of the top and sides of the head separated by a 



