THREE UNPUBLISHED PAPERS BY BLYTH. 209 



ferruginous ; lower tail-coverts white-tipped. "Wing 4 in. or less ; 

 bill to gape 1^ in. Inhabits the Himalayan rocks, and those of 

 W. Asia and S. Europe, especially in Sardinia and Spain. It is 

 common in Afghanistan. 



Genus Salpornis, G. R. Gray.* 

 Bill long, curved throughout its length, broad and sub- 

 depressed at base, and much compressed beyond the nostrils ; 

 nareal orifices broad, pierced in the fore part of the nasal 

 membrane. Wings reaching to the end of the short tail, pointed, 

 having the first primary very short, and the second nearly as long 

 as the third and fourth, which are equal and longest. Tarsi 

 shorter than the middle toe ; the toes long, especially the hinder, 

 and the claws are moderately curved and tapering, that of the 

 hind toe being elongated. The foot is described to resemble 

 that of Rimator. 



S. spiLONOTUs ; Certhia spilonota, Franklin, P. Z. S., 1831, 

 p. 131. — " Above fuscous-grey, white-spotted, with narrow white 

 streaks on the head ; throat and abdomen whitish, the latter 

 barred with dusky ; tail banded white and fuscous. Length 5| 

 in." Inhabits Behar, and probably the hill regions of Central 

 India generally. fNon vidij. 



B. With cuneated tails, having stiffened points (as in the 



Woodpeckers). 

 The Certhiidce of this division are numerous in the forests of 

 S. America, where they vary greatly in size and in form of bill, 

 but have genex-ally a short hind toe, and strong curved claws of 

 about equal size on all the toes. The bill is sometimes very 

 strong and recurved, as particularly in Xenops, — Nuthatch-like in 

 Bendrodromus, Gould, — very long, stout, compressed, and more 

 or less incurved, in forms of Dendrocolaptes ; and in others again 

 short and resembling that of Synallaxis, which genus and its 

 modifications constitute an allied subfamily, near which would 

 appear to range the true Certhice. Not any of these birds are 

 known to descend a perpendicular surface, in the manner of the 

 Nuthatches. The last three subgroups indicated should perhaps 

 form the 



Subfam. Certhin^e. 



Of feeble structure ; the tail cuneated, with pointed feathers, 

 ■!= Arm. Mag. N. H. 1847- p. 352. 



