514 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



Prof. W. K. Parker, from an examination of the skull of CydorMs, pronounces- 

 it " the large prototype of the little Chinese Suthora" and as he found that the latter 

 has " a skull which comes nearer to that of the tits than any I have yet examined," he 

 arrived at a conclusion, which he expressed by calling Cyclorhis " this large archaic 

 tit." On the other hand, Mr. Sharpe refers Suthora and its allies to the Timaliidae. 

 Still, I think that even on account of the external characters they might be placed as 



FIG. 253. JEgithalos caudatws, long-tailed tit. 



a sub-family under the PARID.E, the tits. One of the most remarkable Passeres seems 

 to be allied to Suthora, viz., the three-toed Cholornis paradoxa, which the celebra- 

 ted French traveler, Abbe Armand David, discovered in western China. The 

 unique feature of this bird is the suppression of the fourth, that is, the inner 

 anterior toe. 



The present family may be divided into two sub-families besides the Suthorinae, if 

 we decide to keep them here, viz., the true tits and the nuthatches (Sittinas). The 



