The present species is one of the many interesting birds collected in Java by my friend Dr. Horsfield: it was not, however, until I had described and engraved another specimen, sent to Sir J. Banks from Ceylon, that I discovered the species had already been included in the Doctor's account of the birds of Java, presented to the Linnaean Society, where he has described it under the name of _Orthorynchus frontalis_. The specific name of its first describer is of course retained: with respect, however, to its generic situation, I must be allowed to dissent from considering it as a distinct genus, merely from the prolongation of the hinder toe being somewhat more developed than in _Sitta Europaea_ and _Carolinensis_, both which birds are now before me, and which in themselves differ in the relative proportion of this part: thus in _S. Carolinensis_ the hind toe and claw is two-tenths of an inch shorter than the leg; in _S. Europaea_ it is one-tenth shorter; and in the present species it just exceeds that of the leg: in every other respect not the slightest difference I apprehend will be observed .... Total length five inches. Size of the European Nuthatch. Bill, from the angle of the mouth to the tip, eight lines; front of the head velvet-black, continued in a stripe of the same colour over the eye, and terminating above the ear feathers: the upper plumage is of a rich blue, more brilliant on the head, and paler on the front, and external margins of the quills. Spurious wings and lesser quills black margined with blue. Inner wing-covers deep black; the under plumage is a light-brown, changing to lilac on the ears and sides of the neck, and tinged with cinereous on the flanks and vent: the chin is white; tail even, the two middle feathers blue, the rest more or less black, having the external margins and tips blue. The outer quill of the wings is short, the second and third longest and equal, the fourth rather less; the hind toe with the claw, measures one inch in a straight line. * * * * * Pl. 3 [Illustration] MITRA zonata. _Zoned Mitre._ * * * * * GENERIC CHARACTER. _Testa inaequaliter fusiformis, spira producta attenuata, labio exteriore intus edentulo. Columella plicata._ Shell unequally fusiform. Spire lengthened, attenuated. Outer lip simple, not toothed within. Columella plaited. * * * * * SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _M. epidermide lutea, fulvo-marmorata, anfractibus inferne basi nigris, columella quinque-plicata. Linn. Trans. xii. p. 338._ Mitre, with the epidermis marbled with brownish-yellow; volutions at their base black; columella five-plaited. Mitra zonata. _Marryat in Linn. Trans. vol._ xii. _pl._ 10. _fig._ 1. 2. * * * * *