CERTHIID.*:. 



117 





THE TREE-CREEPER. 



Certhia familiaris, Linnceus. 



Although tolerably numerous, the Tree Creeper is not very fre- 

 quently observed, owing to its small size, modest colours, and the 

 quickness with which it shifts its position on the trunk or branch of 

 the tree where it is seeking for spiders and other insects that lurk 

 in the crevices of the bark. It is generally distributed throughout 

 Great Britain from Cornwall to Caithness, occasionally wandering to 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands, and residing in Skye, though not found 

 in the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland it is common in every county 

 where timber prevails. 



In Norway the Tree-Creeper is abundant in all the lower conifer- 

 woods up to Trondhjems-fjord ; while eastward it occurs in Sweden, 

 Russia, and across Siberia, as far north as trees flourish, to the 

 Pacific. Southward, it is found in Japan, Northern China, and 

 Asia down to the Himalayas, in and south of which several distinct 

 species replace it ; westward, it inhabits Persia, Asia Minor, Tunisia, 

 Algeria, and the basin of the Mediterranean generally as far as 

 the Spanish Peninsula ; and central it is distributed throughout 

 Europe in suitable localities. Mr. Hartert (' Novitates Zoological,' 



