318 
ON THE CriASSIFICATlON OP BIRDS. 
are longest ; tertials lengthened. Tail slightly forked. 
Feet slender. Anterior toes rather short ; the lateral 
ones unequal, the claws small ; hind toe as long as 
the middle toe, but shorter than the tarsus ; the claw 
much lengthened, and slightly curved. Chili. 
G. antho'ides. Part 5. No. 129. 
SiTTA, Linnsus. Vol.I. p.l36.) Bill moderate, 
very straight, cuneated, somewhat cylindrical ; the tip 
not deflexed, and entire. Nostrils entirely concealed 
by tufts of incumbent feathers. Wings long; the first 
quill spurious ; the second slightly shorter than the 
third, fourth, and fifth, which are equal, and longest. 
Tail short, soft, even. Feet short, strong. Claws 
very large, particularly the hinder one ; the three 
anterior cleft to their base. Lateral toes very unequal ; 
the outer one not much shorter than the middle, the 
inner very short : hinder toe much longer than the 
middle, and equal to the tarsus ; the claw much 
shorter than the toe. All the claws strong, broad, 
and fully curved. 
S. Europica. Selby, pi. 39. Canadensis. Wils. 2. f. 4 . 
Caroiinensis. Wils. 2. f. 2. pusilla. lb. 15. f. 2. 
Dendrophila, Sw. General structure of Sitta ; but 
the nostrils are large, oval, open, and almost entirely 
naked ; the base of the bill widened ; and the tip of 
the culmen is inclined downwards. India only.* 
D. tlavipes. Parts. No. 130. frontalis. Zool. 111. i. pi. 2. 
Climacteris, Temminck. { fig . 73. Vol. I. p.lS6.) Bill 
moderate, very slightly bent, compressed, entire. 
AVings lengthened, rounded ; the first quill spurious, 
the second and third graduated, the fourth longest. 
Tail very broad, soft, slightly rounded ; the feathers 
obtuse. Feet short. Toes enormously long : middle 
* I do not believe that either of these two birds exhibit, in jierfection, 
the typical characters of this genus, which, from theory, I suppose to 
intervene between Climacteris and Sitia. I have, therefore, h«l some 
hesitation in proposing the group. The weaker structure of the bill, how- 
ever and the nakedness of the nostrils, prove that the habits of these 
Indian birds must be different fVoin those of the more powerful nut- 
hatches, where the culmen is straight even to its very tip, and the nostrils 
are entirely concealed. 
