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FAMILY IX. CERTHIANJE. CREEPERS. 
Bill of moderate length or rather long, slender, slightly arched, much 
compressed, acute ; upper mandible with its dorsal outline convex or arched, 
the ridge narrow, the notches slight or obsolete, lower mandible with the 
angle rather long and narrow, the dorsal line straight or slightly dccurved, 
the edges iuclinate, the tip acute. Head moderate, ovate; neck short, body 
slender. Feet of moderate length, or rather short ; tarsus about the same 
length as the middle toe, compressed, with eight anterior scutella ; toes of 
moderate length, much compressed, hind toe proportionally long, outer 
adherent at the base ; claws rather long, extremely compressed, arched, 
acute. Wings short or of moderate length. Tail of twelve feathers, gene- 
rally much rounded. Tongue slender, emarginate and papillate at the base, 
very narrow, tapering to a lacerated point. (Esophagus of moderate width, 
without crop ; proventriculusbulbiform ; stomach of moderate size, oblong, or 
elliptical, moderately muscular, witli the muscles distinct ; epithelium dense, 
longitudinally rugous ; intestine short, rather wide ; coeca very small ; cloaca 
globular. Trachea simple, with four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles. 
Genus I.— CERTHIA, Linn. TREE-CREEPER. 
Bill about the same length as the head, very slender, arched, much com- 
pressed, acute ; upper mandible with the dorsal line arched, the ridge narrow, 
the sides sloping at the base, nearly erect in the rest of their extent, the 
edges sharp, arched, without notch, the tip acute ; lower mandible with the 
angle rather long, narrow, and pointed, the outline decurved, the sides erect 
and convex, the edges inclinate, the tip acute. Nostrils linear-oblong, oper- 
culate. Head ovate ; neck short ; body slender. Feet rather short, very 
slender, tarsus rather shorter than the middle toe, very slender, much com- 
pressed ; toes extremely compressed ; the first comparatively large, longer 
than the middle toe, including the claw ; the inner toe shorter than the outer; 
claws long, moderately arched, slender, extremely compressed, laterally 
grooved, acute, that of the hind toe very long. Plumage long, loose, very 
soft. Bristles obsolete. Wings of moderate length, very broad ; the first 
quill very short, the fourth and fifth longest. Tail long, graduated, of twelve 
noderately stiff pointed feathers. 
