152 BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH.
and have eggs about the middle of that month, while in South Carolina
they breed about a month later.
The nest is usually excavated by the birds themselves, in the dead
portion of a low stump or sapling, sometimes only a few feet from the
ground, but not unfrequently so high as thirty or forty feet. The little
creatures work in concert, with great earnestness, for several days, until
the hole, which is round, and not larger at its entrance than the body of
the bird, is dug ten or twelve inches deep, and widening at the bottom.
The eggs are laid on the bare wood; they are from four to six, white,
with reddish dots, and scarcely larger than those of the Humming Bird.
They frequently raise three broods in the season, but more commonly
two.
Extremely careless at the presence of man, who indeed seldom molests
them, they often peep at him when at the distance of only a few feet; yet
when apprehensive of danger, they instantly fly off or ascend the tree,
and are out of sight in an instant.
Their flight is similar to that of the other species, and like them they
frequently utter their notes while on the wing. Now and then they are seen
on the ground, where they hop and turn over the dead leaves in search
of their food, which consists entirely of insects and their larva?.
The young of this species do not acquire the brown colour of the
head until the approach of spring, when no difference is observable between
the sexes.
S I T T A F U S I L L A , Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 263.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds
of the United States, p. 97.
B R O W N - H E A D E D N U T H A T C H , S I T T A F U S I L L A , Wits. Amer. Ornith. voL ii. p. 105,
pi. 15. fig. 2.—Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 584.
Adult Male. Plate CXXV. Fig. 1.
Bill of moderate length, strong, subcorneal, compressed, the tip abrupt
and wedge-shaped ; upper mandible slightly convex in the dorsal outline,
the sides sloping, the edges acute; dorsal outline of lower mandible
straight. Nostrils basal, lateral, oblong. General form short and robust.
Feet rather short and strong; tarsus compressed, anteriorly scutellate,
behind sharp; toes free, scutellate above, the hind toe strong;
claws arched, compressed, acute,-that of the hind toe large.
A fit "L/C J Y&Z] d. • i.' *4»>*»tt^V^i;£
BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. 153
Plumage soft and blended ; wings of ordinary length, the seeond,
third, and fourth quills longest. Tail short, even, of twelve rounded
feathers.
Bill brownish-black above, and on the tips of the lower mandible, the
base of which is light greyish-blue. Iris hazel. Feet dusky brown. The
general colour of the plumage above is dull leaden grey; the two middle
tail-feathers of the same tint; the rest black, the margin of the outermost
and the ends of it, and of the three next on each side, white, the
tips grey. Upper part of the head and hind-neck light reddish-brown,
with a white spot on the hind-neck. The under parts in general are dull
white.
Length 4 inches, extent of wings 8; bill along the back T
5
g , along
the edge T
7
2 ; tarsus T
8
? .
Adult Female. Plate CXXV. Fig. %
The female has the tints paler, but in other respects resembles the male.