EUROPEAN NUTHATCH. 49 



The plumage is very soft and blended. The wings rather 

 long, with nineteen quills, the first about a third of the length 

 of the second, which is four-twelfths of an inch shorter than 

 the third, the fourth longest, but scarcely exceeding the third 

 and fifth. The tail is short, broad, straight, even, of twelve 

 moderately broad, rounded feathers. 



The upper mandible is internally almost flat, with a median 

 ridge ; the lower somewhat more concave. The tongue is 

 nearly half an inch in length, emarginate and papillate at the 

 base, slender, thin, with the point abrupt and furnished with 

 strong bristles, like that of a Tit. The oesophagus is two 

 inches and a quarter in length, rather wide, its diameter be- 

 ing two and a half twelfths ; the stomach large, roundish, ten- 

 twelfths in length, seven-twelfths and three fourths in breadth, 

 very muscular, with the epithelium dense and longitudinally 

 rugous ; the intestine nine inches long, wide, having a dia- 

 meter of from two and a half to one and a half twelfths ; the 

 coeca extremely small, being scarcely one-twelfth long, and of 

 an oblong form ; the rectum one inch long, dilated into an ob- 

 long sac. The tongue and digestive organs are thus similar to 

 those of the Tits. The trachea is an inch and eight -twelfths 

 long, one-twelfth in breadth, of seventy-six rings ; the bronchi 

 of fifteen rings ; the inferior laryngeal muscles forming a small 

 knob, and apparently single. PL XIV, Fig. 3. 



The upper mandible is greyish-blue at the base, dusky in 

 the rest of its extent ; the lower pale gi'ey, with the tip dusky. 

 The iris is brown. The feet are greyish-yellow. The upper 

 parts of the plumage are light bluish-grey. The quills and 

 coverts are greyish-brown, margined with the same colour as 

 the back, the primaries more narrowly, excepting the outer 

 two, which have no coloured margins. The two middle 

 feathers of the tail are bluish-grey, the rest dusky brown, and 

 tipped with grey, diminishing from the outer inwards, the 

 outer with a white spot on each web, the next two with one 

 on the inner web only. There is a brownish-black band on 

 the lore, and another proceeds from the eye down the neck. 

 The cheeks and throat are white, the rest of the lower parts 

 light reddish-yellow, excepting the sides, which are of a rich 



vol.. HI. E 



