45 



SITTING. 



NUTHATCHES AND ALLIED SPECIES. 



The birds of this family are of small size, the largest not 

 exceeding a domestic Sparrow, and agree in having the body 

 short and compact, the neck short, the head of moderate size, 

 or rather large ; the bill shorter than the head, sometimes 

 almost as long, straight, or even slightly bent upwards, slender, 

 pentagonal at the base, four-sided toward the end, with the tip 

 acute, or somewhat cuneate. The tongue is slender, very thin, 

 M'ith the point abrupt, and furnished with several bristles ; the 

 oesophagus rather wide, tapering, without crop ; the proven- 

 triculus oblong ; the stomach rather large, broadly elliptical or 

 roundish, muscular, with a dense rugous epithelium ; the intes- 

 tine rather short and wide ; the cceca very small. Plate XIV, 

 Fig. 3. 



The plumage is very soft, full, and blended ; the wings long, 

 very broad, with the first quill very small, but the second not 

 much shorter than the third and fourth, which are generally 

 longest ; the tail short, broad, and soft. The tarsi are short, 

 or of moderate length, and slender ; the toes long, slender, 

 compressed, the anterior coherent at the base, the inner much 

 shorter than the outer, the hind toe elongated ; the claws long, 

 well arched, compressed, acute. 



In the form of the feet and claws the Sittinse resemble the 

 Certhianae, while in the structure of the bill they are allied to 

 the Woodpeckers, and in their aspect and colouring exhibit an 

 affinity to the Tits. Their habits accordingly present a com- 

 bination of those of all these birds. Of the few genera form- 

 ing this family, only one occurs in Europe. 



