SITTIDAE 



537 



straight and awl-like, being notched only in Sitella and HyposiUa, 

 and slightly iipcurved in the former. Bristles usually occur at the 

 gape, while the nostrils are concealed by the same or feathers. The 

 metatarsi are short and powerful, the scutes l)eing fused in HyjioHitfn ; 

 the hind toe is unusually developed; the claws are long, curved, and 

 sharp. The colours in Sitta, which ranges over nearly all the 

 Palaearctic and Indian Eegions, and throughout North America to 

 Mexico, are slaty-blue and rusty-red of various shades, relieved by 



Fig. 120. — Xuthatch. SMa caesia. x-j\. [Yrom Xatural Histori/ of Sdhorne.) 



black and white; the slaty tints shewing chiefly above, often in com- 

 bination w^ith a black or brown cap. Dendrojjhila and Callisitta, 

 of the Indian Eegion and Timor, are blue and black, with creamy 

 or ochreous lower parts. Sitella, of Australia and New Guinea, 

 exhibits brown, grey, black, rufous, and white, often having a 

 white head, or a rusty or white wing-patch ; Da phoeno sitta, of the 

 latter country, adds to these hues pink at the base of the bill and 

 on the graduated tail; Hypositta of Madagascar is greenish-1 )lue, 

 witli browner head and under surface, and coral-red bill. 



