316 
PASSERIFORMES 
A slightly more active bird than the preceding, and more inclined to 
forage about the extreme tips of branches and to cling there upside down 
very much like crossbills. This is the commoner nuthatch in the prairie 
sections. 
730. Pygmy Nuthatch, la sittelle pygm^e. Sitta pygmaea. L, 4. The smallest 
of our nuthatches. Above, slaty blue changing to greyish brown or olive-grey on crown. 
Sometimes a dull white cloud on nape. Below, 
creamy white, clouded with light grey on flanks. 
Cheeks wdiite, and a dark bar through eye, blending 
into crown without any eyebrow streak between 
(Figure 408). 
Distinctions. Small size, almost clear white 
below, and greyish brown or slightly olive crown 
continuous with dark eye-bar. 
Field Marks. As above. 
Nesting. In crevices in bark or holes in stubs, 
lined with wool, feathers, and other soft materials. 
Distribution. Western United States and 
Mexico. In Canada, the southern interior valleys 
of British Columbia, confined to the region of 
yellow pine Pinus ponderosa. 
SUBSPECIES. The Canadian form of the species is the Black-eared Nuthatch 
(la Sittelle h oreilles noires) Sitla pygniea melanolis. 
Pygmy Nuthatch; natural size. 
A very characteristic bird of its habitat. As agile and lively as the 
Red-breasted Nuthatch and, going in flocks, when too high or distant to 
show details, they may be taken for crossbills or Pine Siskins. The notes 
are only faint chippings, quite unlike the horse “quanking” that is so char- 
acteristic of the other nuthatches. 
FAMILY CERTHIIDAE. CREEPERS 
The name of the only Canadian creeper, the Brown Creeper, describes 
the bird very well. It is a small brown bird that creeps or climbs wood- 
pecker-fashion on the trunks and larger branches of forest trees. It is 
smaller than any Canadian w r oodpecker and the bill is comparatively long, 
light, delicately tapered, and sickle-shaped (Figure 410), adapted for 
extracting small insects and insects’ eggs from narrow cavities, but not for 
chiselling in even the softest wood or bark to reach them. The tail is rather 
long and stiff (Figure 409) and the claws are quite long and much curved. 
Figure 409 
Fail of Brown Creeper; natural size. 
Figure 410 
Brown Creeper; about natural 
size. 
