ORDER PASSERIFORMES 



of whitish spots above ear coverts ; sides of head, 

 the throat and upper breast, buffy olive; re- 

 maining under parts buffy yellow streaked with 

 olive. 



Female. Similar to male but the crown with- 

 out orange streaks and sparsely dotted with 

 white. 



A minute and apparently not very common 

 species, which differs from most other wood- 

 peckers in climbing without the support of its 

 tail. An individual seen clinging to a small 

 inclined branch and industriously hammering 

 with its bill, m jungle near Mt. Hope in April, 

 1926. 



Order PASSERIFORMES 



The Perching Birds 



The families that remain to be dealt with 

 are all very closely related to each other, 

 while most of those that have been treated up 

 to this point are well distinguished and in 

 many cases are regarded as constituting not 

 merely families but groups of higher rank 

 (suborders or orders), either by themselves 

 or with a few allied families. The rest of 

 the families all form a single order, Passeri- 

 formes (in other classifications also called 

 Passeres or Insessores) , which comprises most 

 of the small song and insectivorous birds, 

 and is an immense group, including nearly, if 

 not quite, half the existing species and sub- 



235 



