REMARKS ABO LT THE SITTA CAROLINENSIS. 88 



the eggs of the set before me for description, a general ovidal shape 

 — pure white ground color and very light reddish spots, profuse at the 

 large end and thinly scattered over the remaining surface. The fresh 

 eggs have a very delicate rosy tint before being blown. I find the dimen- 

 sions about 0.75 by, 0.55 inch., only one of the sets eems to vary from that 

 to, 0.73 by, 0.53 inches, in this latter the markings also differ from the 

 others, consisting in this of minute dots, exclusively with no dashes or 

 large marks. In only one of the eggs is the color raore decidedly darker 

 than the others. This set is a fair representative of all that I have found 

 except, that in one a darker shade of red prevailed and in another the 

 markings were evenly distributed over the whole surface of the eggs. 



The note of the Nuthatch is a single syllable which sounds to me 

 like «Onk» occasionally repeated — ■ as if to teil each other «all right» 

 sometimes the repetition is quite frequent and loud if the pair get sepa- 

 rated. Mr. Samuels pronounces their note «cha-cha» bnt I am not able 

 to distinguish it thus. 



Another note I hear from them in early Spring about nesting time 

 is a rapidly repeated «Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa» in a mournful tone, but I 

 never hear it at any other season. My observations have led me to the 

 conclusion that the nesting site selected was not their own excavation 

 but was usually in green wood regardless of the height from tke ground, 

 In two of the nests I have seen, the nest proper, though nearly a foot 

 from the entranee was not at all below it, another was about eight 

 inches below. The birds evidently occupy the same nesting place for a 

 series of years if undisturbed. 



Saybrook Ct. Feb. 19 th - 1884. 



