120 SITTID®, 
Fig. 24.--Sitta himalayensis. 
Family SITTID. 
The family of Sittide, or Nuthatches, is one which it is not 
easy to place in any system of arrangement of the Order Passeres. 
Oates placed them between the Bulbuls (Pycnonotide) and the 
Drongos (Dicruride), with neither of which can they have any 
possible connection. Hartert places them between the Certhide 
and Paride, an excellent position, but making these three families 
form a group entirely by themselves having no close connexion 
with those which come before or after. In the present work 
the preceding family, the Paradoxornithide, is an obvious link 
between the Paride and the 7imaliide, and a position between 
these families seems, perhaps, the best for the Szttidw. In many 
ways they are closely allied to the Tits, especially anatomically, 
and though they have not such close affinities with the Timalude, 
they may well be an offshoot from the Paride, the other end of 
