COJ/MOA- CREErER. 77 



Family CERTIIIID.E. Genus Certiiia. 



COMMON CREEPER. 



Certhia familiaris, LiinuTiis. 

 Double Brooded. Laying season, April to June. 



British breeding area : The Creeper is more or 

 less commonly distributed throughout the woodland dis- 

 tricts of the British Islands, but is absent as a breeding 

 species from the Hebrides (except Skye, where it is a 

 local resident), the Orkneys and the Shetlands, and other 

 treeless areas. 



Breeding habits : The Creeper is a resident bird 

 in the British Islands. Its favourite haunts are districts 

 full of large trees, especially localities where the timber 

 is ancient and more or less decayed. For this reason 

 the bird is most abundant in old forests, extensive woods, 

 and well-timbered parks. Less frequently it may be 

 met with during the breeding season in large orchards, 

 especially such where the trees are old and abound in 

 hollows and crevices. There can be little doubt that the 

 Creeper pairs for life, and at all times may be met with 

 in the company of its mate. The nest of this species is 

 made in a variety of situations, perhaps most frequently 

 in a crevice where a strip of bark has peeled or been 

 torn away from the trunk of a tree. Occasionally a 

 hole in the trunk is selected. In rare instances the nest 

 is made in the side of a stick of cord-wood, in a hole 

 of a building, or under thatch. Instances are on record 

 Avhere it has been met with in a deserted Hawk's nest, 

 and even in a pile of bricks. The nest of the Creeper 

 varies a good deal in bulk, according to the capacity of 

 the selected site, most of the surplus space being filled 

 with a mass of fine twigs, the rim of the nest being 



