SITTIDAE 



537 



straight and awl-like, being notched only in Sitella and Sypo^sitta, 

 and slightly upcurved in the former. Bristles usually occur at the 

 gape, while the nostrils are concealed by the same or feathers. The 

 metatarsi are short and powerful, the scutes being fused in Hyposittn; 

 the hind toe is unusually developed; the claws are long, curved, and 

 sharp. The colours in Sitta, which ranges over nearly all the 

 Palaearctic and Indian Eegions, and throughout North America to 

 Mexico, are slaty-blue and rusty-red of various shades, relieved by 



Fig. 120. — Nuthatch. Siita caesia. 



(From Natural Histm-y of Selborne.) 



black and white; the slaty tints shewing chiefly above, often in com- 

 bination with a black or brown cap. Dendrophila and Callisitta, 

 of the Indian Kegion and Timor, are blue and black, with creamy 

 or ochreous lower parts. Sitella, of Australia and New Guinea, 

 e.xhibits brown, grey, black, rufous, and white, often having a 

 white head, or a rusty or white wing-patch ; Baphoenositta, of the 

 latter country, adds to these hues pink at the base of the bill and 

 on the graduated tail ; Hyposittn of Madagascar is greenish-blue, 

 with browner head and under surface, and coral-red liill. 



