vil SITTIDAE G3 
N 
straight and awl-like, being notched only in Sitel/la and Hypositta, 
and slightly upceurved 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 being fused in Hypositta ; 
the hind toe is unusually developed; the claws are long, curved, and 
sharp. The colours in Sitfa, which ranges over nearly all the 
Palaearctic and Indian Regions, and throughout North America to 
Mexico, are slaty-blue and rusty-red of various shades, relieved by 
Fria. 120.—Nuthatch. Sitta caesia. x 4. (From Natural History of Selborne. ) 
black and white; the slaty tints shewing chiefly above, often in com- 
bination with a black or brown cap. Dendrophila and Callisitta, 
of the Indian Region 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 ; Daphoenositta, 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-blue, 
with browner head and under surface, and coral-red bill. 
