PASSERlNit. 313 



brilliant burnished 'steel-green, the whole of the plumage is 

 black. 



P. aurea, Sh.; Oriolus aureus, Gni.; Edw., 112; Vaill. 18; 

 Vieill. 11, has none of the preceding extraordinary develop- 

 ments of plumage, and is only distinguishable by the velvet fea- 

 thers which cover its nostrils. The male is of the brightest 

 orange; the throat, and primary quills of the wings, black; in 

 the female, a brown takes the place of the orange.(l) 



FAMILY IV, 



TENUIROSTRES. 



This family comprehends the remaining birds of the first divi- 

 sion; those in which the beak is slender, elongated, sometimes 

 straight, and sometimes more or less arcuated, and without any 

 emargination. They are to the Conirostres what the Mota- 

 cillse are to the other Dentirostres. 



SiTTA, Lin. 



The Nuthatches have a straight, prismatic, pointed beak, com- 

 pressed near the point, which they employ like the Woodpeckers to 

 perforate the bark of trees, and in withdrawing the larvx contained 

 in it; but their tongue is not extensible, and although they climb in 

 every direction, they have but one toe behind, which, it is true, is a 

 strong one. The tail is of no use in supporting them, as is the case 

 with the Woodpeckers and True Creepers. There is but one in 

 France. 



S. europcea,h.', Enl. 623, 1; Naum. 139. (The European Nut- 

 hatch.) Bluish ash colour above; reddish beneath; a blackish 

 band descending behind the eye; size of a Rouge-gorge.(2) 



(1) I refer the Farad. gularis, Lath., or 7iigra, Gm.; Vaill. 20 and 21; Vieill. 8, 

 9, and the kucoptera, Lath, to the Thrushes; the Par. Chalyboea, Enl. 633, Sonn. 

 97; Vaill., 23; A^ieill., 10, to the Cassicans; the cirrhata, Aldrov. 814, is too much 

 mutilated to be characterised, and the furcata, Lath, appears to be an imperfect 

 specimen of the superba. 



(2) Add the -S". sourcil blanc {S. canadensis, Briss.) Enl. 623, 2; the Black- 

 JieadedN. [S. canadensis, L.), Catesb., I, xxii; Vieill. Gal. 171; S. frontalis. Swains. 

 Zool. 111. 2, or S. velata, Tem., Col. 72, 3, or Orlhorynchus frontalis, Horsf. Jav. ; 

 S. chrysoptera. Lath., 3d Supp. 327; S. pusilla, Id. 



Vol. I. 2 P 



