10 



REPTATORES. CREEPERS. 



toes also slender, the anterior parallel or more or less syndaety- 

 lous, the hind toe very stout ; the claws large, extremely com- 

 pressed, arched, and very acute. It must here however be stated 

 that in this order the form of the bill varies extremely. There is 

 a small group or genus of South American birds, to which the 

 name of Dendrocolaptes has been given. The different species of 

 this genus are so like each other in form, proportions, plumage, 

 and colour, that, in so far, one description might almost answer 

 for all. Their feet are syndactyle, and adapted for climbing, 

 the toes being long, with strong, curved, acute claws. But the 

 bill, which commonly affords the best generic character, is so 

 different in the different species, that while in one it is not very 

 unlike that of a Flycatcher, in another it resembles that of an 

 Epimachus, as may be seen from the accompanying engravings. 



In defining this genus, then, nothing more explicit can be said 

 of the bill than what we find in Temminck's character of it : — 

 " The form of the bill difficult to be indicated by general cha- 

 racters ; depressed and trigonal at the base, compressed or slen- 

 der at the point; without notch; straight or more or less 

 curved, with scarcely any nasal groove." Seeing, then, that 

 in a very natural genus of this order, the form of the bill varies 

 so much, we must expect to find in the different families and 

 genera, variations more remarkable than in most other orders. 

 The only universal character is that of the syndactylous feet, 

 having long slender toes, of which the three anterior are as it 



