Perclu'ng Birds. 



4T 



Mr. Harteit in his recent review of the species, also considers it to he diflerent from 

 the Continental form, and names it Certhia fainiliaris britannicn (Novt. Zool. iv., 

 p. 139). He sa^s that it differs from the form of Western Europe (C. brachydnctyla), 

 in having the orange-tawny colour of the rump more extended and slightly more 

 orange, the whole aspect of the upper surface being more rufous, the beak also 

 averaging decidedly shorter, the hind-claw longer. Thus, in the opinion of the two 

 above-mentioned observers, the British Creeper is a form peculiar to our islands, 

 like our Coal-Tit and Long-Tailed Tit. 



The Creeper is not a very easy bird to observe, as it is small, and not readily 

 seen. It flies down to the bottom of a tree-trunk 

 and climbs to the top with a rapidly jerking motion 

 of the body, generally keeping itself well out of 

 sight on the other side of the tree, and feeding on 

 minute insects as it goes. The single hissing note, 

 when once comprehended, is not easily mistaken, 

 and seems to come from all points of the compass. 

 Competent observers have assured me that the 

 Creeper has a song, but I have never heard this 

 myself in England, though on the Continent I 

 have heard a Creeper sing as loudly as a Tit. The 

 nest is placed under shelter below the eaves of a 

 shed or in the hole of a tree, or beliind a crevice of 

 bark on the latter. It is generally an untidy 

 structure of small roots and moss, with strips of 

 inside bark and dead wood. The eggs are from 

 four to si.\ in number, very similar to those of Tits, 

 being white or pinky-white, with rufous or blackish 

 spots. 



The Xlthatch {Sitta 

 casin) is our only representa- 

 tive of a family which is 

 widely distributed over the 

 northern parts of the Old and New Worlds. The members of it may be said to have 

 the plumage of a Tit with the habits of a Creeper, but instead of the long curved bill 

 of the latter birds, the Nuthatches have a powerful wedge-shaped bill, more like that 

 of a Woodpecker, though they have nut the extensile tongue of the last-named 

 bird, nor do they possess a spiny tail. The Nuthatch is principally an English 

 bird, being pretty generally distributed, but becoming rarer towards Scotland, and 

 being unknown in Ireland. On the Continent it is found westwards of the Peninsula 

 of Jutland, through Central and Southern Europe, east to Asia Minor and Palestine. 

 The favourite haunt of the Nuthatch is in the large trees of a well-timbered park, and 



THE NUTHATCHES. 



Family 



SITTID.E. 



The Tree-Ckeeper. 

 The Nuthatch. 



