G-euus DENDEOPHILA. 

 Bill straight, widened at the base ; the culmen gently curved from the base to the tip. 

 Nostrils oval and lateral ; a few weak rictal bristles. Wings long, pointed ; the 1st quill 

 exceeding the prirnary-coverts by about 02 inch, the 4th the longest, and the 2nd shorter than 

 the 6th. Tail very short, slightly exceeding the closed wing. Tarsus short, scaled, exceeding 

 the middle toe, which is shorter than the hind ; outermost toe much exceeding the inner and 

 syndactyle ; hind claw very large and much curved. 



DENDROPHILA FRONTALIS. 



(THE INDIAN BLUE NUTHATCH.) 



Sitta frontalis, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 162 (1821). 



Sitta corallina, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. 1836, v. p. 779 ; Gray's Zool. Miscell. p. 82 (1S10). 



Dendrophila frontalis (Horsf.), Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 1839, xi. p. 218; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. 

 A. S. B. spec. B & C, p. 190 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 (1852); Layard, 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 176 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 388 (1862) ; Holdsw. 

 P. Z.S. 1872, p. 435; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 161 (1873); Legge, Ibis, 1874, 

 p. 16 ; Bourdillon, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 393; Fairbank, ibid. 1877, p. 399 ; Hume and 

 Davison, B. of Tenass., Str. Feath. 1878, p. 201. 



Dendrophila corallina (Hodgs.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 89; Sharpe, ibid. 1876, p. 436. 



The Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Jerdon ; The Tree-creeper, The Blue Creeper, Europeans in 

 Ceylon. 



Adult male and female. Length 5*1 to .3^2 inches ; wing 2*9 to 3-15 ; tail l'S; tarsus 0-65 to 0-7; middle toe and 



claw 075 ; hind toe 0-5, its claw (straight) 0-35 ; bill to gape - G7 to 073. 

 Lris pale golden yellow, eyelid greenish leaden, orbital skin dusky yellowish ; bill coral-red, the tip of upper mandible 



nearly always blackish ; legs and feet wood-brown, claws pale horny, soles dull yellowish. 



Male. Above cerulean blue, somewhat deeper on the upper tail-coverts and shoulder, and changing at the edge of 

 the frontal band into lazuline blue ; lores, a broad band across the forehead, and a streak over the eyes to the 

 nape deep velvety black ; quills and most part of tail dull black ; secondaries edged with the hue of the back ; 

 several of the primaries with a whitish-blue margin ; central tail-feathers dull blue, and the tips and outer edges 

 of the remainder bluish, the under surface of the feathers being greyish ; just below the eye a slight wash of blue ; 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, and the neck just beneath them lilac ; chin and upper part of throat whitish, changing into the 

 brownish- or fulvous-lilac of the whole under surface ; tibia and under tail-coverts washed with bluish grey. 



Female. Wants the black superciliary stripe, and has the lores edged with bluish. In most specimens I have seen 

 there is a series of one or two dark spots across the shaft of the centre tail-feathers, which seems peculiar to 

 this sex. 



Young. The bird of the year has the terminal portion of the upper mandible blackish, and the sincipital stripe, in the 

 male, smaller than in the adult. 



06s. Mr. Sharpe, on the evidence of a small series of skins in the British Museum, has recently pointed out that the 

 Javan bird is distinct from the Indian, inasmuch as it has the throat concolorous with the chest and not white 

 as in the latter, and also the under surface richer in colour. I have examined the series in question, and also 

 some skins of the late Mr. A. Anderson's collecting, and find that 3 Malayan examples from Java, Sarawak, and 



