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 flanks and crissum. Bill and feet black ; iris brown. 9 unknown : 
probably not different. Young quite similar, having glossy black on the head before they are 
fully 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. AURI'PARUS. (Lat. mm, of gold, and pams, a tit; from the yellow head.) Gold-tits. Head 
not crested. Wings pointed, the 2d quill being little shorter than the 3d ; the 1st spurious. 
Tail 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 Helminthophaga ; longer and slenderer than usual in Parince ; 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 sylvicoliue. 
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 
wdng-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 dull and brownish. Valley of the Rio Grande and Colorado, and 
Lower California ; abundant in 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 bill). 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 fruits ; 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, whicli 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 (Hijpositta) , a genus peculiar to Australia 
(Sittella), and another confined to New Zealand (Acanthisitta) : but some of these (especially 
Acanthisitta) may not be Sittidce at all, and in any event the family is chiefly represented by 
the genus Sitta, with some fifteen species of Europe, Asia, and North America. 
