PERCHING BIRDS 
NUTHATCHES AND TITS. Family SITTID^ 
727. White-breasted Nuthatch. Sitta 
carolinensis carolinensis. 
Range. — United States east of the Rockies, 
breeding from the Gulf to southern Canada; 
resident throughout its range. 
These birds are creepers, but unlike the last 
species, these run about on the trunks, either 
up or down; their tails are not pointed and 
stiffened like those of the Brown 
Creepers, and their plumage is 
gray and black above with a 
black crown, and white below. 
They nest in holes in trees, 
usually deep in the woods and 
White at any elevation from the 
ground; they nearly always use deserted Wood- 
peckers’ holes but are said at times to exca- 
vate their own, with great labor as their bills 
are little adapted for that work. They line the 
cavities with bark strips and hair or feathers, 
and during April or May, lay from four to nine 
white eggs, profusely specked with reddish 
brown and lilac. Size .80 x .60. Data. — Lancaster, Mass., May 16, 1902. Nest in 
hole in an oak tree, 45 feet above ground; made of fine strips of bark fibre and 
hair. 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
727a. Slender-billed Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis aculeata. 
Range. — North America, west of the Rockies and from Mexico to British Co- 
lumbia. 
This species is as abundant in the west as the last is in the east, and nests in 
like situations. The eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the eastern 
birds. 
727b. Florida White-breasted Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis atkinsi. 
Range. — Florida and the South Atlantic coast to South Carolina. 
The habits and eggs of these birds are like those of the northern ones. 
727c. Rocky Mountain Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis nelsoni. 
Range. — Rocky Mountains from Mexico north to British Columbia. 
Their nesting habits or eggs are not distinctive in any respect. 
727 cl - San Lucas Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis lagunas. 
Range. — Mountain ranges of Lower California. 
Said to be like aculeata but with the wings and tail slightly shorter. 
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