204 
SITTA PUSILLA. 
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, generally 
accompanied by the former species, as well as by 
the titmouse, parns atricapillus , and the crested tit- 
mouse, 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 ; 
conveying the idea of hungry diligence, bustle, and 
activity. Both these little birds, from the great quantity 
of destructive insects and larvae they destroy, both 
under the bark and among the tender buds of our fruit 
and forest trees, are entitled to and truly deserving of 
our esteem and protection. 
149 . SITTA PUSILLA , LATHAM AND WILSON. 
BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 
WILSON, PLATE XV. FIG. II. 
This bird is chiefly an inhabitant of Virginia and the 
southern States, and seems particularly fond of pine 
trees. I have never yet discovered it either in Pennsyl- 
vania or any of the regions north of this. Its manners 
are very similar to those of the red-bellied nuthatch ; 
but its notes are more shrill and chirping. In the 
countries it inhabits it is a constant resident; and in 
winter associates with parties, of eight or ten, of its 
own species, who hunt busily from tree to tree, keeping 
Up a perpetual screeping. It is a frequent companion 
of the red-cockaded woodpecker ; and you rarely find 
