CHAPTER VII. NUTHATCHES 



FAM. SITTID.E 



CHARS. Bill subcylindrical, tapering, compressed, slender, 

 acute, not notched, nearly or about as long as the bead j culmeu 

 and commissure nearly straight; gonys long, convex, ascending. 

 Nostrils rounded, concealed by tufts of bristly feathers (as in 

 Paridce). Wings long, pointed ; primaries ten, the first of 

 which is short or spurious. Tail much shorter than the wings, 

 nearly even, of twelve soft, broad, not " scansorial " feathers. 

 Tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw, scutellate in front. 

 Toes long, with large, strongly curved, compressed and acute 

 claws, in adaptation to scansorial habits. Hallux with its claw 

 abtfut as long as the middle toe ; the claw as long as the digit. 

 Lateral toes of very unequal lengths. Plumage compact. 

 Body stout, depressed. Tongue horny, acute, barbed. Habits 

 highly scansorial ; manner of climbing peculiar. 



The Nuthatches are related to the Titmice, both in physical 

 structure and general economy, but present certain peculiarities 

 probably warranting the independent family rank I have as- 

 signed to them. The bill is altogether different ; other details 

 of structure are modified in adaptation to a particular kind of 

 climbing, which, if not entirely peculiar to these birds, is at 

 least their prime characteristic. Our other scansorial birds, 

 such as the Creepers and Woodpeckers, use the tail as a prop 

 or stay to assist in maintaining position; for which purpose 

 the feathers are specially contrived by their rigidity and 

 strength, being pressed against the support by the action of 

 strong muscles. In the case of the Nuthatches, the tail does not 

 assist in the acts of climbing. The birds just mentioned, more- 

 over, never climb head downward ; while the Nuthatches scram- 

 ble about in every imaginable attitude, running down the 

 trunks of trees, or along the under side of the branches, with 

 the same ease with which they climb upward. When reversed 

 in position, they are still unlike the Titmice and other small 

 birds which momentarily hang suspended by their claws; for 



