42 
RED-BELLIED, BLACK-CAPPED NUTHATCH. 
in its imperfect plumage, or a different sort, that rarely visits 
the United States. If the figure ( PL enl. 623.) be correctly 
coloured, it must be the latter, as the tail and head appear 
of the same bluish gray or lead colour as the back. The 
young birds of this species, it may be observed, have also 
the crown of a lead colour during the first season ; but the 
tail-feathers are marked nearly as those of the old ones. 
Want of precision in the figures and descriptions of these 
authors makes it difficult to determine ; but I think it very 
probable, that Sitta Jamaicensis mi?ior, Briss., the Least 
Loggerhead of Brown, Sitta Jamaicensis var. t. st . Linn., and 
Sitta Canadensis of Linnseus, Gmelin, and Brisson, are names 
that have been originally applied to different individuals of 
the species we are now describing. 
This bird is particularly fond of the seeds of pine trees. 
You may traverse many thousand acres of oak, hickory, and 
chestnut woods, during winter, without meeting with a single 
individual; but no sooner do you enter among the pines than, 
if the air be still, you have only to listen for a few moments, 
and their note will direct you where to find them. They 
usually feed in pairs, climbing about in all directions, gene- 
rally accompanied by the former species, as well as by the 
titmouse, Parus atricapillus , and the crested titmouse, Parus 
bicolor , and not unfrequently by the small spotted woodpecker, 
Picus pubescens ; the whole company proceeding regularly 
from tree to tree through the woods like a corps of pioneers ; 
while, in a calm day, the rattling of their bills, and the rapid 
motions of their bodies, thrown, like so many tumblers and 
rope dancers, into numberless positions, together with the 
peculiar chatter of each, are altogether very amusing ; con- 
veying the idea of hungry diligence, bustle, and activity.* 
* It is curious to remark the similarity, as it were, in the feeling and 
disposition of some species. In this country, during winter, when the 
different kinds have laid aside those ties which connected them by sexual 
intercourse, nothing is more common than to see a whole troop of the blue, 
marsh, cole, and long-tailed titmice, accompanied with a host of golden- 
