Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/155

Rh which has no visible link with any of the other families of Passeres in the area we cover, whilst the Timaliidæ are another development in a different direction.

In this family the edges of the upper mandible are smooth, or the upper one simply notched; the hinder aspect of the tarsus smooth, composed of two entire longitudinal laminae and other features as already given in the key to the Families. The nostrils are overhung by some hairs and the rictal bristles are present; the feet are very strongly developed for the purpose of climbing, the hind toe and claw are very powerful and the inner toe and claw dwarfed; the bill is about as long as the head, fairly stout and straight. The wing is long and pointed and the first primary is always less than half the second. The tail is short and square or very slightly rounded. The sexes are dissimilar.

Only one genus of Nuthatch, Sitta, is found within our limits. The little Velvet-fronted Nuthatch is sometimes separated under the name Dendrophila but without any very apparent reason or necessity. I follow Oates in uniting them all under one name.

The characters of the genus are those of the family.