SITTA. 215 



Gen. Sitta Lin. 



General characters same as those of the sub-family ; nostrils covered by 

 setaceous tufts ; wing with the ist primary short, the 4th and 5th equal and 

 longest: tail short, even, soft. 



715. Sitta nagaensiS, Godwin-Austen, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 44; Gadow, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 344. The MUNIPUR NUTHATCH. 



Crown of the head, neck, mantle, back, scapulars and central tail feathers 

 pale slaty blue ; quills and wing coverts brownish, the outer webs of the secon- 

 daries and wing coverts washed with pale slaty blue, all the tail feathers except 

 the central pair, dark brown with greyish tips, the outer pairs with a subterminal 

 white patch ; a black stripe from the nostrils through the eye ; chin, cheeks, 

 coverts and under parts whitish ; the breast greyish white ; entire flanks rich 

 chestnut red ; under tail coverts with a large white subterminal spot, edged 

 and tipped with chestnut red ; under wing coverts black. Bill slaty blue ; 

 iris dark brown ; legs horny fleshy. 



Length. 6 inches ; wing 3 ; tail 175 ; culmen 0*68. 

 Hab. Hills N.-E. of Bengal (Munipur). 



716. Sitta magna, War dlaw- Ramsay, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 677, pi. 

 Ixiii. ; id., Ibis, 1877, p. 465 ; Hume, Str. F. 1877, p. 343 ; id. and Dai'., Sir. 

 F. 1878, p. 201 ; Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 90; Gates, B. Br. Burm. p. 133; 

 Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 344. The GIANT NUTHATCH. 



Above dark bluish slate colour; a broad (i inch) black stripe from the 

 base of the bill over the eye to the shoulder ; crown of the head and neck 

 smoky grey ; wing bluish slate colour, the primaries edged on their outer webs 

 with bluish slate, except the second, third and fourth, which are slightly 

 margined with whitish on their outer webs, and the fifth and sixth white at 

 the base ; under wing coverts greyish brown ; the edge -of the wing jet 

 black under the shoulder ; tail feathers dark brown, the two central pairs 

 bluish slate colour, the rest dark brown, the outer pair broadly tipped on the 

 outer web with white and margined with the same on the inner ; under 

 surface of the body smoky grey ; the throat and foreneck whitish ; under tail 

 coverts, vent and thighs brilliant chestnut, each feather of the former tipped 

 with white. 



Length. 7-3 inches; wing 4-5; tail 27 ; culmen ro ; tarsus 0-95. 



Hab. British Burmah, between Tounghoo and Karennee. Sitta syriaca, 

 a species without chestnut on the flanks, and with a white throat, is found in 

 Beloochistan (Bolan Pass), Persia and South Afghanistan, also Turkestan. 



717. Sitta himalayensis, Jard. et. Selby, III. o. Hi. pi. 144 ; 



Gould, B. Asia. pt. i., Bp. C. A. r. p. 227 ; Jerd., B. Ind. i.p. 385, No. 248 ; 



