216 SITTING. SITTA. 



Upupa Epops, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 183. Upupa Epops, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 415. Upupa Epops, European 

 Hoopoe, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 41. 



FAMILY XXVI. SITTING. SITTINE BIRDS, 

 OR NUTHATCHES. 



Birds of small size, having the body short and compact, 

 the neck short, the head rather large. Bill of moderate 

 length, straight, slender, pentagonal at the base, four- 

 sided toward the end, with the tip acute or somewhat cu- 

 neate. Mouth narrow ; tongue slender, very thin, with 

 the point abrupt, and furnished with several bristles ; 

 oesophagus rather wide, tapering, without crop ; proven- 

 triculus oblong ; stomach rather large, roundish, muscu- 

 lar, with dense, rugous epithelium ; intestine rather short 

 and wide ; cosca very small. Plumage very soft, full, 

 blended ; wings long, very broad, with the third and fourth 

 quills longest ; tail short, of twelve soft feathers. Tarsi 

 short or moderate, slender; toes long, slender, compressed, 

 the anterior coherent at the base, the hind toe elongated ; 

 claws long, well-arched, compressed, acute. 



In the form of the feet and claws the Sittinse resemble 

 the Certhiinse, while in the structure of the bill they are 

 somewhat allied to the Woodpeckers, and in their gene- 

 ral aspect and habits approach the Parinae. 



GENUS LXXII. SITTA. NUTHATCH. 



Bill of moderate length, straight, slender, but strong, 

 somewhat conical, slightly higher than broad, pentagonal at 

 the base, four-sided toward the end, with the point sharp, or 

 somewhat wedge-shaped from use ; upper mandible with the 

 dorsal line almost straight, the ridge rather obtuse, the edges 

 without notch ; lower mandible with the angle rather short, 

 the tip acute ; gape-line straight. Mouth narrow ; tongue 

 slender, abrupt, bristle-tipped. Nostrils oblong, basal. Head 



