VI. REPTATORES. CREEPERS. 



By the ordinal name of Reptatores, or Creepers, may be 

 designated an extensive group of birds, which agree in possess- 

 ing certain forms ©f the bill and feet that render them pecu- 

 liarly adapted for procuring insects and larvfe in the crevices 

 of the bark of trees. But the habits of creeping and climbing 

 are not confined to those birds which have the tail-feathers so 

 stiffened as to be used for the purpose of supporting them while 

 they cling to the surface. For example, the Black-and- White 

 Creeper of America, Mniotilta varia of Vieillot, Certhia varia 

 of Wilson, is described as precisely similar in its mode of life to 

 our Common Tree-Creeper, Certhia familiaris. That bird how- 

 ever belongs to the family of Sylvicolinse, and differs little from 

 Sylvicola coronata, unless in having the bill considerably longer, 

 and the claws much slronger. This latter species is said to feed 

 on insects, caterpillars, berries, and seeds, but does not climb 

 and creep in the manner above described. 



The species to which collectively I give the name of Creepers 

 are intimately connected on one hand with the Sylvianae and Syl- 

 vicolinae, some of which, as may be seen from the above state- 

 ment, are actually creeping and climbing birds, on another with 

 the Parinse, some of which also creep and climb, and again with 

 the Paradiseanre, which belong, to the order Yagatores. They 

 may be generally described as having a more or less elongated, 

 slender, acute bill, well adapted for being insinuated into the 

 fissures of the bark of trees ; the tarsi short and slender ; the 



VOL. III. B 



