12 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
A. 
B. 
1 
Head striped with black on the sides. 
P. melanotis. The stripes passing under the eye and uniting on the 
occiput. Hab. Eastern Mexico 
No stripes on the head. 
P. minimus. Back ashy ; crown light brown. Hab. Pacific Province of 
United States var. minimus . 
Back and crown uniform ashy. Hab. Middle Province and southern Rocky 
Mountains of United States var. plumbeus . 
Genus AURIFARUS, Baird. (Page 10.) 
A. flaviceps, Baird. Above cinereous; head, all round, yellow; lesser wing-coverts 
chestnut; beneath brownish-white. Iris brown. Length, 4.50 inches; wing, 2.16; tail, 
2.35. Nest large, suspended at end of twigs; subglobular; entrance circular; eggs pale 
blue, with brown spot. Hab. Valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado; Cape St. Lucas. 
( Yellow-headed Bush- Titmouse ; Verdin .) 
Subfamily S I T T I N 2E . (Page 10.) ^ 
Iris brown. Nest in holes of trees ; eggs white, with reddish spots. 
Genus SITTA, Linn2eus. 
Species and Varieties. ^ 
A. Crown black. 
S. carolinensis. Belly white; no black stripe through eye. Length 
about 6.00. ( White-bellied Nuthatch.') PF 
Bill, .70 long, .17 deep. Black spots on tertials sharply defined. 
Hab. Eastern Province North America . . . var. carolinensis. 
Bill, .80 long, .14 deep. Black spots on tertials obsolete. Hab. Middle 
and W estern Province United States, south to Cordova, Mexico var. aculeata. 
S. canadensis. Belly brownish-rusty. A black stripe through eye. Length 
4.50. Hab. Whole of North America. (Canada Nuthatch.) 
B. Crown not black. Length about 4.00; wing, 2.50. 
S. pusilla. Crown light hair-brown; hind toe much longer than the 
middle one. Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf States. (Brown-headed Nut- 
hatch.) 
S. pygmcea. Crown greenish-plumbeous ; hind toe about equal to middle 
one. Hab. Western and Middle Province United States, south to Xalapa. 
(Pygmy Nuthatch.) 
Family CERTQIADiE. — The Creepers. 
Char. Primaries ten ; first very short, less than half the second. Tail long, wedge- 
shaped, the feathers stiffened and acute. Bill slender, much compressed and curved. 
Outer lateral toe much longest ; hind toe exceeding both the middle toe and the tarsus, 
which is scutellate anteriorly and very short. Entire basal joint of middle toe united to 
the lateral. Iris brown. Nest in holes, or behind bark of trees or stumps. Eggs gray- 
ish-white, sprinkled with fine reddish spots. 
