194 Div. 1. YERTEBRATE ANIMALS.— AYES. Class 2. 



The Tenuirostres, — 



Com))rehends the remainder of this first division ; the Birds composing it being distinguished 



by a slender, elongated, sometimes straight and sometimes curved bill, devoid of emargina- 



tion. They bear the same relation to the Conirostres which the Bec-Jins do to the other 



Dentirostres. 



The Nuthatches {Sitta, Lin.), — 



Have a straight, prismatic, pointed beak, compressed towards the tip, which they employ like the 

 Woodpeckers to perforate the bark of trees, [and particularly to scale it off], to get at their insect- 

 food ; and although they climb in every direction, they have only one toe directed backward, which is 

 certainly very strong. Their tail is of no use in supporting them, as in the Woodpeckers and Tree- 

 creepers. [These birds also feed largely on various seeds, and are celebrated for the instinct of fixing 

 a nut in a chink, while they pierce it with the bill, swinging the whole body as upon a pivot, to give 

 effect to each stroke. They lay up stores of food, like tlie Tits. 



Of several species, three inhabit Europe, and one the British Isles, which is not uncommon (5. europcea, Lin.). — 

 Ash-g^rey above, yellowish beneath, with dark rufous flanks and under tail-coverts, the latter spotted with white ; 

 a black streak through the eye, and round wliite spots on the tail-feathers; size, that of a Robin. Its note is 

 remarkably loud, and disposition fearless.] 



The Xenop.s, Illiger, — 

 Have merely the beak rather more compressed, and its inferior ridge more convex. 



The Anabates, Temminck, — 



Have, on the contrary, the superior ridge a little convex, almost hke the beak of a Thrush, without 



emargination. The tail is long and wedge-shaped, and occasionally worn, which intimates that it is 



employed for sustension. In 



The Synallaxis, Vieillot, — 



The beak is straight, not much elongated, slender, and pointed ; the tail-feathers are generally long 

 and sharp. Tiiere are even some of them in wliich the shafts of those feathers are stout, and pro- 

 longed beyond the barbs. 



The Creepers {CertJiia, Lin.) — 



Have an arcuated bill, but little else in common. We subdivide them first into 



The Tree-creepers {Certhia, Cuv.), — 

 So named from their habit of traversing the boles of trees, in the manner of the Woodpeckers, [that 

 is, in an ascending direction only], their tail, which terminates in similar stiff points, serving to sup- 

 port them. 



There is one in Europe, the European Tree-creeper (C. familiaris, Lin.), a diminutive species, reddish-brown 

 above, speckled with whitish, inclining to ferruginous on the rump, and pure gli.stening white underneath. It 

 nestles in the holes of trees, and ascends their trunks with rapidity, searching for the insects and larvas concealed 

 in their chinks, and among the mosses and lichens. [Is very common throughout Britain]. 



America produces some true Creepers of comparatively large size, which have been termed 



Dendrocolaptes, Hermann. 

 Their tail is the same, but the beak is much stronger and wider. 



There is even one of them which approaches the Nuthatches in its straight and compressed beak : it might be 

 taken for a Nuthatch with a worn tail (Oriolus picus, Gm. and Lath. ; Gracula picoides, Shaw ; or Dendr. 

 guttattts, Spix). 



The beak of another, twice as long as the head, is arched only towards the tip {le Nasican of Vaillant). That of 

 a third is long, slender, and as much arcuated as in Melit/irejjius. 



The Tichodromes {Tichodroma, Illiger), 

 Or Wall-creepers, do not lean upon the tail, although they creep up walls and rocks as the preceding 

 do tlie trunks of trees, but they cling to them with their strong claws. Their beak.is triangulai- and 

 depressed at its base, vejy long and slender. [They moult twice in the year.] 



One only is known, an inhabitant of the south of Europe (Certhia muraria, Lin.). It is a handsome bird of a 

 light nsh-colour, with some bright red on the wings. Throat of the male black [in summer. The affinities of 

 this curious little bird are not obvious]. 



The Honey-suckers {Necfarinea, Illiger) — 

 Neither use the tail, nor indeed climb, although their beak, of medium length, arched, pointed, and 

 compressed, resembles that of the Tree-creepers. All of them are foreign. 



