Part 17

A nest of this bird presented by Mr. Nuttall to Audubon was cylindrical in form, nine inches in length and three and a half in diameter. It was suspended from the fork of a small twig, and was composed externally of hypnum, lichens, and fibrous roots so interwoven as to present a smooth surface, with a few stems of grasses and feathers intermingled. The aperture was at the top, and did not exceed seven eighths of an inch in diameter. The diameter of the internal passage for two thirds of its length was two inches. This was lined with the cottony down of willows and a vast quantity of soft feathers. The eggs were nine in number, pure white, .56 of an inch by .44 in their measurement.

Dr. Cooper found them throughout the year near San Francisco. He found one of their nests at San Diego as early as the first of March. The nest is so large, compared with the size of the birds, as to suggest the idea that the flock unite to build it. He gives the measurements as eight inches in length and three in diameter, outside; the cavity five inches long, one and a half in diameter. It was cylindrical, and suspended by one end from a low branch.

When one of these birds is killed, Dr. Cooper says that the others come round it with great show of anxiety, and call plaintively until they find it will not follow them, becoming so fearless as almost to allow of their being taken by the hand.

Psaltriparus minimus, var. plumbeus, BAIRD.

LEAD-COLORED BUSH-TITMOUSE.

_Psaltria plumbea_, BAIRD, Pr. A. N. S. VII, June, 1854, 118 (Little Colorado). _Psaltriparus plumbeus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 398, pl. xxxiii, fig. 2; Review, 84.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 398, no. 77.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 49.

SP. CHAR. Tail long, feathers graduated. Above rather light olivaceous-cinereous. Top of head rather clearer; forehead, chin, and sides of head, pale smoky-brown. Beneath brownish-white, scarcely darker on the sides. Length about 4.20 inches; wing, 2.15; tail, 2.50.

HAB. Southern Rocky Mountain region of United States, from mountains of West Arizona to Green River, Wyoming; west to Carson City, Nevada (RIDGWAY).

This variety is very similar to the _Psaltriparus minimus_ of the west coast, which it represents in the Rocky Mountain region. It is, however, appreciably larger, the wings and tail proportionally longer. The top of the head is plumbeous, uniform with the back, instead of smoky-brown. The back is a paler ash, the under parts darker.

HABITS. Of the history of this variety but little is known. It is found in the southern portion of the Rocky Mountain regions, within the United States, in Arizona and New Mexico. The extent of its area of distribution remains to be ascertained. Dr. Kennerly met with it on Little Colorado River, where he observed it among the scattered bushes along the banks of the river, occurring in large flocks. These passed rapidly from place to place, uttering their short, quick notes. He afterward met with them along the head waters of Bill Williams Fork, inhabiting the tops of the cotton-wood trees. When attracted to them by their notes, they could only be seen after a very careful search. He obtained no knowledge as to their mode of nesting, and no information, so far as we are aware, has been obtained in regard to their eggs. It may, however, be safely conjectured that they are white, and hardly distinguishable from those of the _minimus_. Dr. Coues found them common near Fort Whipple, Arizona.

Mr. Ridgway met with this bird in especial abundance among the cañons of West Humboldt Mountains in September. He found it also in all suitable places westward to the very base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was met with principally in the thick brushwood bordering the streams, in ever-restless companies, continually twittering as they flew from bush to bush, in single rows. Mr. Ridgway describes these birds as remarkably active in their movements. If unmolested, they were exceedingly unsuspicious and familiar. During November he found them inhabiting the cedars, always associating in scattered flocks.

GENUS AURIPARUS, BAIRD.

_Auriparus_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 85. (Type, _Ægithalus flaviceps_, SUND.)

GEN. CHAR. Form sylvicoline. Bill conical, nearly straight, and very acute; the commissure very slightly and gently curved. Nostrils concealed by decumbent bristles. Wings long, little rounded; the first quill half the second; third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal, and longest. Tail slightly graduated. Lateral toes equal, the anterior united at the extreme base. Hind toe small, about equal to the lateral. Tarsus but little longer than the middle toe.

This genus is closely allied to _Paroides_ of Europe, as shown in Birds of North America (p. 399), though sufficiently different. It is much more sylvicoline in appearance than the other American _Paridæ_.

Auriparus flaviceps, BAIRD.

YELLOW-HEADED BUSH-TITMOUSE; VERDIN.

_Ægithalus flaviceps_, SUNDEVALL, Ofversigt af Vet. Ak. Förh. VII, v, 1850, 129. _Psaltria flaviceps_, SCL. P. Z. S. XXIV, March, 1856, 37. _Psaltriparus flaviceps_, SCL. Catal. Am. Birds, 1861, 13, no. 79. _Paroides flaviceps_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 400, pl. liii, fig. 2. _Auriparus flaviceps_, BAIRD, Review, 1864, 85.—COOPER, Birds Cal. 1, 51. _Conirostrum ornatum_, LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. May, 1851, 113, pl. v, fig. 1 (Texas).

SP. CHAR. Above cinereous; head, all round, yellow; lesser wing-coverts chestnut; beneath brownish-white. Length, 4.50 inches; wing, 2.16; tail, 2.35.

HAB. Valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado; Cape St. Lucas.

[Line drawing: _Auriparus flaviceps._ 6764]

HABITS. This new and interesting little species was first added to our fauna by Mr. Lawrence in 1851, only a year after its first description as a bird of Mexico. Notwithstanding the abundance in which it has been in certain localities, less has been developed in regard to its habits and specific characteristics than we seem to have had a right to anticipate.

It was found in Western Texas, in Mexico, in the lower valleys of New Mexico and Arizona, and is very abundant at Cape St. Lucas. Of the eighteen species of birds found by Mr. John Xantus breeding in the last-named locality, this one was regarded as the most abundant. In a letter from that gentleman, written in August, 1859, he mentioned that he had collected over one hundred eggs of this species, during that season, in the immediate vicinity of Cape St. Lucas.

Dr. Heermann, in his report on the birds observed in Lieutenant Williamson’s explorations, states that he first discovered this species in Southern California, at the terminus of the Mohave River. Owing to their extreme wildness, he was not able to obtain any specimens. In searching for their food, he states that they often remained suspended with their backs downward, after the manner of the Titmice. He found their nests quite abundant, though from the lateness of the season few of the birds were remaining, in the neighborhood of Fort Yuma. Dr. Heermann describes their nests as spherical, formed of twigs, and having the entrance on one side. The interior was lined with down and feathers, and contained usually from four to six eggs. These he describes as having, when fresh, a ground-color of pale blue, dashed all over with small black spots.

Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the Birds of the Mexican Boundary Survey, states that he met with this species in the vicinity of the Rio Grande. They were very wild, flew rapidly, and to quite a distance before they alighted. They seemed to frequent the low mezquite-bushes on the hillsides.

Mr. Xantus found this species, when he first arrived at San Lucas, on the 4th of April, with young birds already fully fledged, although others were still breeding and continued to breed until the middle of July. Two fifths of all the eggs he collected that season, he writes, were of this species. This may, however, have been in part owing to the conspicuous prominence of their nests, as well as to their abundance. Xantus found the nest in various positions. In one instance it was suspended from a leafless branch not three feet from the ground, with its entrance nearly to the ground. In another instance it was on an acacia twenty feet from the ground. For the most part they are hung from low acacia-trees, on the extreme outer branches. In all cases the entrance to the nest was from the lower end, or towards the ground.

Dr. J. G. Cooper, in his History of the Birds of California, speaks of finding a large number of this beautiful little bird during the whole winter frequenting the thickets of algarobia and other shrubs, and with habits intermediate between those of Titmice and Warblers, corresponding with their intermediate form. Their song resembles that of the Chickadee, and they also uttered a loud cry, as they sat on high twigs, with a triple lisping note resembling _tzee-tee-tee_. Dr. Cooper found a pair building on the 10th of March. They first formed a wall, nearly spherical in outline, of the thorny twigs of the algarobia, in which tree the nest was usually built. They then lined it with softer twigs, leaves, the down of plants, and feathers. They covered the outside with thorns, until it became a mass as large as a man’s head, or nine inches by five and a half on the outside. The cavity is four and a half inches by two, with an opening on one side just large enough for the bird to enter. On the 27th of March, Dr. Cooper found the first nest containing eggs. These were in all instances four in number, pale blue, with numerous small brown spots, chiefly near the larger end, though some had very few spots and were paler. Their size he gives as .60 by .44 of an inch. In one nest, which he closely observed, the eggs were hatched after about ten days’ incubation, and in two weeks more the young were ready to leave their nest.

SUBFAMILY SITTINÆ.

The characters of the _Sittinæ_ are expressed with sufficient detail on page 86. The section is represented in America by a single genus, confined mainly to the northern portion.

GENUS SITTA, LINNÆUS.

_Sitta_, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Agassiz.)

[Line drawing: _Sitta carolinensis._ 1761 ♀]

GEN. CHAR. Bill subulate, acutely pointed, compressed, about as long as the head; culmen and commissure nearly straight; gonys convex and ascending; nostrils covered by a tuft of bristles directed forward. Tarsi stout, scutellate, about equal to the middle toe, much shorter than the hinder, the claw of which is half the total length. Outer lateral toe much longer than inner, and nearly equal to the middle. Tail very short, broad, and nearly even; the feathers soft and truncate. Wings reaching nearly to the end of the tail, long and acute, the first primary one third of (or less) the third, or longest. Iris brown. Nest in holes of trees. Eggs white, spotted with reddish.

The North American species may be arranged as follows:—

A. Crown black.

S. carolinensis. Belly white; no black stripe through eye.

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 Western Province United States, south to Cordova, Mexico … var. _aculeata_.

S. canadensis. Belly brownish-rusty. A black stripe through eye. _Hab._ Whole of North America.

B. Crown not black.

S. pusilla. Crown light hair-brown; hind toe much longer than the middle one. _Hab._ South Atlantic and Gulf States.

S. pygmæa. Crown greenish-plumbeous; hind toe about equal to middle one. _Hab._ Western and Middle Province United States, south to Xalapa.

Sitta carolinensis, var. carolinensis, LATH.

WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH.

_Sitta europæa_, var. γ, _carolinensis_, GM. S. N. I, 1788, 440. _Sitta carolinensis_, LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 262; also of all other American writers.—REICHENBACH, Handbuch, Abh. II, 1853, 153, tab. dxiii, figs. 3563, 3564.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 374, pl. xxxiii, fig. 4; Review, 86.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 106. _Sitta melanocephala_, VIEILL. Gal. I, 1834, 171, pl. clxxi. Other figures: WILSON, Am. Orn. I, pl. ii, fig. 3.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. clii.—IB. B. A. IV, pl. ccxlvii.

SP. CHAR. Above ashy-blue. Top of head and neck black. Under parts and sides of head to a short distance above the eye white. Under tail-coverts and tibial feathers brown; concealed primaries white. Bill stout. Female with black of head glossed with ashy. Length about 6 inches; wing about 3.75.

HAB. United States and British Provinces; west to the Valley of the Missouri.

HABITS. The common White-bellied Nuthatch has an extended distribution throughout nearly the whole of Eastern North America, from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. West of the great central plains it is replaced by the var. _aculeata_. It has not been met with, so far as I am aware, farther north than Nova Scotia. It is a resident of Eastern Maine, and is quite common in the southern and western portions of the same State. In Massachusetts it is rather common than abundant, and more plentiful in the western than in the eastern portions of that State.

The habits of this and the other species of Nuthatches partake somewhat of those of the smaller Woodpeckers and of the Titmice. Without the noisy and restless activity of the latter, they seek their food in a similar manner, and not unfrequently do so in their company, moving up or down the trunks and over or under the branches of trees, searching every crack and crevice of the bark for insects, larvæ, or eggs. Like the Woodpeckers, they dig industriously into decayed branches for the hidden grub, and like both Woodpeckers and Chickadees they industriously excavate for themselves a place for their nests in the decayed trunks of forest trees. Their nest, however, is usually at a greater elevation, often some twenty or thirty feet from the ground. The European Nuthatch is said to plaster up the entrance to its nest, to contract its opening and lessen the dangers of unfriendly intrusion. This habit has never been observed in any of the American species.

All our ornithological writers have noticed the assiduities of the male bird to his sitting mate, and the attention with which he supplies her with food. He keeps ever in the vicinity of the nest, calls her from time to time to come to the mouth of the hole to take her food, or else to receive his endearments and caresses, and at the approach of danger fearlessly intervenes to warn her of it. When feeding together, the male bird keeps up his peculiar nasal cry of _hŏnk-hŏnk_, repeating it from time to time, as he moves around the trunk or over the branches.

Their favorite food is insects, in every condition. With this, when abundant, they seem content, and rarely wander from their accustomed woods in summer. In winter, when snow or ice covers the branches or closes against them the trunks of trees, they seek the dwellings and out-houses for their necessary food, and will even alight on the ground in quest of seeds. In searching for food among the trees, they move as readily with their heads downward as in any other position. Their motion is a uniform and steady progression, somewhat in the manner of a mouse, but never, like the Woodpecker, by occasional hops.

The European species collect and store away the fruit of the hazel and other nut-bearing trees. Our bird has been supposed to do the same thing, but this is by no means an indisputable fact.

In some parts of the country absurd prejudices prevail against these interesting little birds. They are indiscriminately confounded with the smaller Woodpeckers, called, with them, Sap-Suckers, and because in the spring and fall they frequent old orchards are most unwisely, as well as unjustly, persecuted. They are among the most active and serviceable of the fruit-grower’s benefactors. His worst enemies are their favorite food. It is to be hoped that soon a better-informed public opinion will prevail, cherishing and protecting, rather than seeking to destroy, this useful, affectionate, and attractive species.

Interesting accounts are given in English works of the confiding tameness of the European species. When kindly treated, it will come regularly for its food, approaching within a foot or two of the hand of its benefactor, and catching with its bill the food thrown to it before it can reach the ground.

The pair work together in constructing the perforation in which they make their nest. When the excavation has been well begun, they relieve each other at the task. The one not engaged in cutting attends upon its mate, and carries out the chips as they are made. These nesting-places are often quite deep, not unfrequently from fifteen to twenty inches. Audubon states that they build no nest, but this does not correspond with my observations. In all the instances that have come to my knowledge, warm and soft nests were found, composed of down, fur, hair, or feathers loosely thrown together, and, though not large in bulk, yet sufficient for a lining for the enlarged cavity that completes their excavation. Soon after they are hatched, the young climb to the opening of the nest to receive their food, and, before they are ready to fly, venture out upon the trunk to try their legs and claws before their wings are prepared for use, retiring at night to their nest. In the Southern States they are said to have two broods in a season.

The eggs of this Nuthatch measure .80 by .62 of an inch. Their ground-color is white, but when the egg is fresh it has a beautiful roseate tinge, and generally receives an apparently reddish hue from the very general distribution of the spots and blotches of rusty-brown and purplish with which the eggs are so closely covered. These markings vary greatly in size, from fine dots to well-marked blotches. Their color is usually a reddish-brown; occasionally the markings are largely intermixed with purple.

Sitta carolinensis, var. aculeata, CASS.

SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCH.

_Sitta aculeata_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. VIII, Oct. 1856, 254.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 375, pl. xxxiii, fig. 3; Review, 86.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 54. _? Sitta carolinensis_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 293 (Cordova); 1858, 300 (Oaxaca); 1859, 363 (Xalapa), 373 (Oaxaca).

SP. CHAR. Very similar to _carolinensis_; but upper secondaries with only obscure blackish blotches, instead of sharply defined longitudinal spots of clear black. Bill slenderer and more attenuated.

HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of the United States, south to Cordova, Mex. Orizaba (Alpine regions), SUMICH.

The characters given above express the essential differences between this and the Eastern race of _S. carolinensis_. In the present form, the depth of the bill opposite its base is .14, the width .17, and .80 or more in length from the forehead; while these same measurements in var. _carolinensis_ are .17, .22, and .70. The obsolete character of the black spots on the secondaries is a persistent feature in the var. _aculeata_.

HABITS. This bird chiefly differs from its eastern congener in its more slender bill. There appears to be no difference in regard to their habits, at least none have been noticed, and it is probable there is none other than trivial changes caused by its opportunities of procuring food, and the kinds upon which it subsists. It is supposed to be distributed throughout Western North America, from the British Possessions to Mexico, though Dr. Cooper thinks that it is not a common bird south of San Francisco, and only to be seen there in the colder months. It has been met with at San Diego in February. He did not observe any in the Coast Mountains, near Santa Cruz, but northward they are numerous in the summer, frequenting chiefly the groves of the deciduous oaks, creeping constantly about their trunks and branches in search of insects, which they also occasionally seek on the roofs and walls of houses. Their habits are similar to those of _S. canadensis_, but their movements are said to be slower, and their note is a single harsh call, uttered occasionally, and responded to by their comrades. Dr. Cooper found them quite common in Washington Territory and at Puget Sound. Dr. Suckley also mentions their great abundance.

Dr. Kennerly met with this species a hundred miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and quite abundant among the pines of the Sierra Madre. He speaks of its note as being peculiar.

Mr. J. K. Lord states that this species remained about Colville during the winter, when the thermometer was 30° below zero. He also mentions that he found them nesting, in June, in the branches of the tallest pine-trees, so high up as to render the obtaining their eggs almost an impossibility.

Mr. Ridgway found the Slender-billed Nuthatch abundant, throughout the year, in the vicinity of Carson City, among the pines on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He noted its great similarity in manners to the _carolinensis_; at the same time the well-marked difference in the notes did not escape his attention. These notes are much weaker, and are uttered in a finer tone, and some of them are said to be entirely different.

Sitta canadensis, LINN.

RED-BELLIED NUTHATCH.

_Sitta canadensis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 177.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, pl. cviii.—IB. Birds Am. IV, pl. ccxlviii.—REICH. Handb. Abh. II, 1853, 152, tab. dxiii, figs. 3561, 3562.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 376; Review, 87.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 15, no. 91.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 54. _Sitta varia_, WILS. Am. Orn. I, 1808, 40, pl. ii.

SP. CHAR. Above ashy-blue. Top of head black; a white line above and a black one through the eye. Chin white; rest of under parts brownish-rusty. Length about 4.50 inches; wing, 2.66. Female with the black of head mixed with ashy; beneath paler, more of a muddy-white.

HAB. Whole United States and British Provinces. North to Lake Winnipeg.

HABITS. The common Red-bellied Nuthatch, though nowhere a very abundant species, is found throughout the whole of North America, from Florida to high northern regions, and from ocean to ocean. The Smithsonian Institution possesses specimens from Georgia, Selkirk Settlement, California, and Washington Territory. Mr. Gambel found them quite common in the mountains in the interior of California, in October, roving in company with busy flocks of the _Parus montanus_.

Dr. Cooper met with them abundantly in Washington Territory, where they preferred the oaks and other deciduous trees, and never frequented the interior of the dense forest. He observed this bird and the Slender-billed Nuthatch, along the 49th parallel, east of the Cascade Mountains, as late as the middle of October. Dr. Suckley also met both birds west of the same mountains.

This Nuthatch was observed by Mr. Ridgway among the aspen groves bordering the streams that flow from the East Humboldt Mountains. In that locality it was common through the month of September, though not abundant. It was again seen in June among the pine-woods of the Wahsatch Mountains, but it was not common.