CREEPER*. 



539 



grosbeak-like Loxioideus bailleui. the generic name of which indicates its external 



O ' O 



resemblance to the stout fringilline birds. 



For want of a better place we may here include the true creepers, CERTHIID.K, a 

 small group of climbing birds, the exact relationship of which is yet quite doubtful, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the typical species, the common creeper (Certhla fa- 

 miliaris), here figured, and its closely allied American representative (C. americanci) 

 are among the most familiar birds of Europe and of this country, so that they are 

 within the grasp of every ornithologist. The only thing which we know at present 

 with any degree of certainty is that the old notion of the creepers being nearly allied 

 to the nuthatches is wrong, and that in some way or another they are related to the 

 ' Cinnyrimorphse ' of modern authors. The birds composing this 'family' are usually 

 modestly colored, and red is only found in the second species figured, the Alpine 





FIG. '260. Ccrthiola Jim-ruin, banana-quit. 



wall-creepers (Tichodronta mnrari<{), the remiges of which are adorned with the 

 most glorious crimson in addition to the white round spots on the first primaries. 

 The bird itself is delicately slate-blue above, blackish beneath, but when flying appears 

 nearly entirely black. I think it is the most interesting and beautiful bird I have 

 ever met in the wild state, and I remember very well the enraptured sensation when 

 in the Tyrolean Alps I one day made the acquaintance of this charming bird. I 

 faced a high rocky wall, rising perpendicularly to the height of nearly a hundred feet. 

 Presently a black object fell down in zigzag lines until, nearly reaching the foot of 

 the cliff, the bird checked its descent by spreading its lovely wings. It now com- 

 menced to ascend the rock in jerks, as the common creeper runs up the bole of a 

 tree, but all the time opening and closing its wings to display the glorious coloration, 

 as well shown in our figure. It looked like a large tropical butterfly, and when to-day 

 recalling the ln-antiful sight I do not wonder that I entirely forgot to shoot the bird. 



