BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 



253 



This species is four inches and a quarter long, and eight 

 broad ; the whole upper part of the head and neck, from the 

 bill to the back, and as far down as the eyes, is light brown 

 or pale ferruginous, shaded with darker touches, with the 

 exception of a spot of white near the back ; from the nostril 

 through the eyes, the brown is deepest, making a very obser- 

 vable line there ; the chin, and sides of the neck under the 

 eyes are white ; the wings, dusky ; the coverts and three 

 secondaries next the body, a slate or lead colour; which is 

 also the colour of the rest of the upper parts ; the tail is 

 nearly even at the end, the two middle feathers slate colour, 

 the others black, tipped with slate, and crossed diagonally 

 with a streak of white ; legs and feet, dull blue ; upper 

 mandible, black ; lower, blue at the base ; iris, hazel. The 

 female differs in having the brown on the head rather darker, 

 and the line through the eye less conspicuous. 



This diminutive bird is little noticed in history, and what 

 little has been said of it by Europeans is not much to its 

 credit. It is characterised as "a very stupid bird," which 

 may easily be knocked down from the sides of the tree with 

 one's cane. I confess I found it a very dexterous climber ; 

 and so rapid and restless in its motions as to be shot with 

 difficulty. Almost all very small birds seem less suspicious 

 of man than large ones ; but that activity and restless dili- 

 gence should constitute stupidity, is rather a new doctrine. 

 Upon the whole, I am of opinion, that a person who should 

 undertake the destruction of these birds, at even a dollar 

 ahead for all he knocked down with his cane, would run a 

 fair chance of starving by his profession.* 



* In our note at page 36 of this volume, we mentioned that the 

 American nuthatches and that of Europe were the only species known. 

 M. Vigors has since described, in the proceedings of the Committee of 

 Science of the Zoological Society, one under the name of Sitta castaneo- 

 ventris from India, which, if true to the type, may prove an addition. 

 In the same place, that gentleman also describes a second species of 

 Certhia (G. spilonata), but adds, " The tail of this bird is soft and flexible." 

 We have noticed, in a former note, the C. familiaris as the only known 

 species, and we doubt if that now mentioned can rank with it. — Ed. 



