. The naturalist in La Plata. a heterogeneous assemblage ofbirds with beaks like creepers, nuthatches, finches,tyrant-birds, woodpeckers, crows, and even curlewsand ibises. In legs, feet and tails, there are corre-sponding differences. There are tails of all lengthsand all forms ; soft and stiff, square, acuminated,broad and fan-like, narrow and spine-like, andmany as in the woodpeckers, and used as in thatbird to support the body in climbing. An extremelycurious modification is found inSittosoma : the tail-feathers in this genus are long and graduated, andthe shafts, projecting beyond the web
. The naturalist in La Plata. a heterogeneous assemblage ofbirds with beaks like creepers, nuthatches, finches,tyrant-birds, woodpeckers, crows, and even curlewsand ibises. In legs, feet and tails, there are corre-sponding differences. There are tails of all lengthsand all forms ; soft and stiff, square, acuminated,broad and fan-like, narrow and spine-like, andmany as in the woodpeckers, and used as in thatbird to support the body in climbing. An extremelycurious modification is found inSittosoma : the tail-feathers in this genus are long and graduated, andthe shafts, projecting beyond the webs at the ends,curve downwards and form stiff hooks. Concern-ing the habits of these birds, it has only beenreported that they climb on the trunks of trees:probably they are able to run vertically up or downwith equal facility, and even to suspend themselves The Woodhewer Family. 239 by their feather-hooks when engaged in dislodginginsects. Another curious variation is found inSylviothorhynchus, a small wren-like bird and the.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1922
