_Sitta pusilla. Case 4, Fig. 66_
The head is browner than in the figure; the nape
has a downy white patch. Smallest of our
Nuthatches. L. 4-1/2.
_Range._ Nests from Florida to southern Delaware
and southern Missouri; a Permanent Resident.
The Brown-headed Nuthatch is a bird of southern pine forests; one may
travel for miles without seeing a single individual and then discover a
company of a score or more. They pass most of their time among the upper
branches uttering a _pit-pit_ as they hunt for food, or all suddenly
joining in a metallic _tnee-tnee-tnee_, when they are apt to take flight
to the adjoining trees. The nest is in a hole in a tree or stump,
generally near the ground; 5-6 white, heavily marked eggs being laid in
March.