120 



S1TTID.E. 



Fig. 24. Sitta Mmalayensis. 



Family SITTlDjE. 



The family of Sittidce, or Nuthatches, is one which it is not 

 easy to place in any system of arrangement of the Order Passeres. 

 Gates placed them between the Bulbuls (Pycnonotidce) and the 

 Drongos (Dicruridce), with neither of which can they have any 

 possible connection. Hartert places them between the Certhiidce 

 and Paridce, 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 Paradoxornithidce, is an obvious link 

 between the Paridce and the Timaliidce, and a position between 

 these families seems, perhaps, the best for the Sittidce. In many 

 ways they are closely allied to the Tits, especially anatomically, 

 and though they have not such close affinities with the TimalUdcp, 

 they may well be an offshoot from the Paridce, the other end of 



