_Sitta pusilla_, LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 263.—WILS. Am. Orn. II,
1810, 105, pl. XV.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, pl. cxxv.—IB. Birds
Am. IV, pl. ccxlix.—REICH. Handb. 1853, 153, tab. dxiv, figs.
3567, 3568.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 377; Review, 88.—SCLATER,
Catal. 1861, 15.
SP. CHAR. Above ashy-blue; top of head and upper part of neck rather
light hair-brown, divided on the nape by white. Eye involved in the
brown, which is deeper on the lower border. Beneath muddy-whitish;
sides and behind paler than the back. Middle tail-feathers almost
entirely like the back. Length of female, 4 inches; wing, 2.50.
HAB. South Atlantic and Gulf States. Ohio! KIRTLAND.
HABITS. The Brown-headed Nuthatch has a much more restricted
distribution than the other members of this family in this country.
The specimens in the Smithsonian Museum are chiefly from Georgia.
Wilson met with it in Virginia, and states that it is found in the
other Southern States. I have received its eggs from Cheraw, S. C.,
and from Florida.
Wilson’s description of its habits makes them almost identical with
those of _Sitta canadensis_, while its notes are more shrill and
chirping. Like that bird, it is very fond of the seeds of the pines.
Wherever found, it is a constant resident, and does not migrate.
Audubon states that this bird never goes farther north than Maryland,
and that it is the most abundant in Florida, Georgia, and the
Carolinas. In Louisiana it is rare, and it is not found in Kentucky.
Its notes, he states, are several octaves higher than those of the
_carolinensis_, and more shrill, and at least an octave and a half
higher than those of the _canadensis_.
Although apparently preferring pines and pine barrens, it by no means
confines itself to them, but is not unfrequently seen on low trees and
fences, mounting, descending, and turning in every direction, and with
so much quickness of motion as to render it difficult to shoot it. It
examines every hole and every crevice in the bark of trees, as well as
their leaves and twigs, among which it finds abundance of food at all
seasons. During the breeding-season they go about in pairs and are
very noisy. Their only note is a monotonous cry, described as
resembling _dĕnd, dĕnd_. Mr. Audubon further states that when the
first brood leaves the nest, the young birds keep together, moving
from tree to tree with all the activity of their parents, who join
them when the second brood is able to keep them company. In Florida
they pair in the beginning of February, having eggs as early as the
middle of that month. In South Carolina they breed one month later.
Their 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 at the height of thirty or forty feet.
Both birds are said to work in concert with great earnestness for
several days, until the hole, which is round, and not larger at the
entrance than the body of the bird, is dug ten or twelve inches deep,
widening at the bottom. The eggs, according to Mr. Audubon, are laid
on the bare wood. This, however, is probably not their constant habit.
The eggs, from four to six in number, and not much larger than those
of the Humming-Bird, have a white ground, thickly sprinkled with fine
reddish-brown dots. They are said to raise two, and even three, broods
in a season. According to the observations of the late Dr. Gerhardt of
Northern Georgia, the Brown-headed Nuthatch breeds in that part of the
country about the 19th of April.
The eggs of this Nuthatch are of a rounded oval shape, measuring .60
by .50 of an inch. Their white ground-color is so completely overlaid
by a profusion of fine dottings of a dark purplish-brown as to be
entirely concealed, and the egg appears almost as if a uniform
chocolate or brown color.