BIRDS—CERTHIADAE—SITTA CAROLINENSIS. 
375 
Third and fourth quills about equal ; fifth a little shorter ; second intermediate between fifth 
and sixth. Top of the head and back of the neck, with upper part of back, lustrous greenish 
black ; rest of upper parts ashy blue. Under parts generally, with sides of head and neck, 
white, this color extending from the base of the upper mandible over the eye ; tibial feathers, 
with inner webs of under tail coverts, light rufous brown. Quills white at the extreme base 
and on the basal portion of the inner webs. Wing feathers dark brown above, except the 
coverts, the tertiaries, and the ends of primaries and secondaries, which are nearly black, all 
edged more or less with the color of the back, which becomes more whitish on the tips of the 
quills and the edges of the outer primaries. Under wing coverts black. Central tail feather 
like the back ; the rest black, with a broad subterminal band and more or less of the outer web 
white. 
The female differs only in having the black of the head with an ashy gloss. 
In comparing a large series of specimens together, (about thirty in each,) from the two sides 
of the continent, the western, as a general rule, have more slender bills than the eastern. I 
can detect no other difference whatever. This constitutes the character of Mr. Cassin’s species, 
S. aculeata. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex and 
age. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No, 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
1645 
July 18, 1844 
Jan. —, 1845 
6.08 
10.83 
3.58 
3.75 
1761 
o 
.do. 
6.00 
11.25 
1762 
6.50 
6802 
17 
8337 
o 
Independence, Mo. 
Dec. 24, 1854 
Win. M. Magraw .... 
62 
Dr. Cooper .... 
5.90 
10.50 
3.37 
Iris and bill black, feet 
8336 
Q 
June 6, 1857 
61 
6.00 
10.25 
3.75 
gray. 
5628 
$ 
28 
W. S. Wood... 
5871 
Fort Riley, K. T... 
June 18, 1856 
5870 
SITTA ACULEATA, Cassin. 
Slender-bill Nuthatch. 
Sitta aculeata, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VIII, Oct. 1856, 254. 
Sp, Ch. —Precisely similar to S. carolinensis, but the bill slenderer and more attenuated. 
Hah .—Pacific coast, and east towards the Rocky mountains. 
It is a very difficult matter to decide whether the western white-breasted nuthatches are to be 
considered merely as varieties of S. carolinensis or as distinct species. The only difference I can 
discern is the much slenderer bill, a character, however, which is constant in all before me, (about 
thirty specimens,) while the stout bill is seen in all east of the Missouri plains. Thus, the 
depth of the bill opposite the base above is .14 of an inch; the width at same point is .17, 
instead of .17 and .22, respectively. Specimens from Washington Territory, however, appear 
to be intermediate in this respect between more southern and eastern ones. 
The young bird is similar, but duller, the under parts tinged with reddish brown. 
