33 



CERTHIA FAMILIARIS. THE BROWN TREE- 

 CREEPER. 



CREEPER. TREE-SPEELER. BROWN WOODPECKER. SNAIGEAR. MEANGLAN- 



STREAPACH. 



Certhia familiaris. Linn. Syst, Nat. I. 184. 



Certhia familiaris. Lath. Ind. Orn. I. 280. 



Common Creeper. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Le Grirapereau. Certhia familiaris. Temm. Man. d'Orn. L 410. 



Common Creeper. Certhia familiaris. vSelb. Illustr. I. 388. 



Certhia familiaris. Common Creeper. Jen, Brit. Vert. An. 152. 



Upper part of the head darh-hrown^ neck and hack yellowish- 

 hroicn^ each feather with a median ichitish streak ; rump yelloicish- 

 red ; wings with a transverse whitish hand ; lower parts silvery. 



Male. — The Tree-creeper, which is one of the smallest of 

 our native birds, weighing only about two drams, is of a slender 

 elongated form, with the neck short, the head ovato-oblong, and 

 of moderate size. The bill is nearly as long as the head, arcuate, 

 somewhat triangular at the base, much compressed toward the 

 end, both mandibles acute, with the edges sharp, and the upper 

 destitute of notch. The tongue is slender, sagittate and papil- 

 late at the base, horny toward the end, concave above, pointed 

 and bristly. The oesophagus is narrow, without dilatation, an 

 inch and nine-twelfths in length ; the stomach elliptical, com- 



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