w 
ee -» PASSERINE. 313 
“ §> 
brilliant burnished steel-green, the whole of the plumage is 
er black. 
P. aurea, Sh.; Oriolus aureus, Gm.; Edw.,-1123 Vaill. 18; 
Vieill. 11, has none of the preceding extraordinary develop- 
ments of plumage, and is only distinguishable by the velvet fea- 
thers which cover its nostrils. The male is of the brightest 
orange; the throat, and primary quills of the wings, black; in 
‘the female, a brown takes the place of the orange.(1) 
“ 
FAMILY IV. 
TENUIROSTRES. 
This family comprehends the remaining birds of the first divi- 
sion; those in which the beak is slender, elongated, sometimes 
straight, and sometimes more or less arcuated, and without any 
emargination. They are to the Conirostres what the Mota- 
cille are to the other Dentirostres. 
SITTA, Lin. 
The Nuthatches have a straight, prismatic, pointed beak, com- 
pressed near the point, which they employ like the Woodpeckers to 
perforate the bark of trees, and in withdrawing the larve contained 
in it; but their tongue is not extensible, and although they climb in 
every direction, they have but one toe behind, which, it is true, is a 
strong one. The tail is of no use in supporting them, as is the case 
with the Woodpeckers and True Creepers. There is but one in 
France. . 
S. europa, L.3 Enl. 623, 1; Naum. 139. (The European Nut- 
hatch.) Bluish ash colour above; reddish beneath; a blackish 
band descending behind the eye; size of a Rouge-gorge.(2) 
(1) { refer the Parad. gularis, Lath., or nigra, Gm.; Vaill. 20 and 21; Vieill. 8, 
9, and the leucoptera, Lath. to the Thrushes;—the Par. Chalybea, Enl. 633, Sonn. 
97; Vaill., 23; Vieill., 10, to the Cassicans;—the cirrhata, Aldrov. 814, is too much 
mutilated to be characterized, and the furcata, Lath. appears to be an imperfect 
specimen of the superba. 
(2) Add the S. @ sourcil blanc (S. canadensis, Briss.) Enl. 623, 2;—the Black- 
headed N. (8. canadensis, L..), Catesb., I, xxii; Vieill. Gal. 171;—S. frontalis, Swains. 
Zool. Ill. 2, or S. velata, Tem., Col. 72, 3, or Orthorynchus frontalis, Horsf. Jay. ;— 
S. chrysoptera, Lath., 3d Supp. 327;—S. pusilla, Id. 
Vou. I.—2 P , . 
