NUTHATCHES 123 



rather common W. V., Sept. 25-May ij one summer record 

 N. Ohio, common W. V., Oct. i-May 9. Glen Ellyn, tolerably 

 common W. V., Sept. 15-May 19. SE. Minn., common T. V., 

 uncommon W. V., Sept. 25-Mch. 30. 



To see the Brown Creeper is to know him but so incon- 

 spicuous is he that unless you chance to observe him drop 

 from one to tree near the foot of another, you may over- 

 look the little figure creeping spirally upward. Nor are 

 his thin, weak, squeaky call-notes more likely to attract 

 attention than he is himself. A true bird of the bark, he 

 not only hunts upon it but builds his nest behind it, 

 laying 5-8 white, brown-spotted eggs in May. 



NUTHATCHES. FAMILY SITTID^ 

 y WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 



Sitta carolinensis carolinensis. Case 2, Figs. 38, 39; Case 4, 

 Fig. 65 



Crown black, cheeks white; breast white; the female with a 

 gray crown. L. 6. 



Range. Nests from Gulf States to Canada; a Permanent 

 Resident. The Florida White-breasted Nuthatch (S. c. atkinsi) 

 a slightly smaller form in which the female as well as the male 

 has the crown black, is the race inhabiting Florida, the Atlantic 

 coast to South Carolina and the Gulf coast to Mississippi. 



Washington, common T. V. and W. V., less common S. R. 

 Ossining, common P. R. Cambridge, P. R., rare in summer, 

 uncommon in winter, common in migrations; most numerous in 

 Oct. and Nov. N. Ohio, common P. R. Glen Ellyn, fairly 

 common P. R. SE. Minn., common P. R. 



During the summer we will see comparatively little of 

 this bird who, with equal ease, climbs either down or up a 

 tree trunk, but in the winter he will be a constant patron 

 of the nuts and suet on our lunch counters. Habit, 

 markings, his unmistakable yank-yank, all distinguish him 

 from our other birds, except his Canadian cousin to which, 

 after all, he bears only a family resemblance. 



