TREE-CREEPER 529 



summer consists almost exclusively of insects, in autumn it feeds on 

 hazel-nuts and beech-mast, which it breaks open by fixing in the 

 interstices of bark, and then hammering with its beak. Much of its 

 insect-food is obtained by prising off pieces of bark, often of considerable 

 size, from the trunks and branches of trees, up and along which it runs 

 and climbs in a manner recalling both a titmouse and a woodpecker. 



As a rule, nuthatches breed in holes, in trees, or walls, laying their 

 first clutch of from five to eight rusty-spotted white eggs during April 

 or May, in a mere apology for a nest — the eggs being often mixed up 

 with debris when the nursery is in a tree. In the latter case the sides 

 of the entrance to the nesting-hole are plastered with mud till the 

 aperture is reduced to the requisite size. Two instances are known of 

 nuthatches nesting in a sand-bank, while there is also a record of a 

 pair of these birds having converted to their own use a deserted 

 magpie's nest by lining it with clay. More remarkable still is the 

 well-known case in which a pair of nuthatches built a clay-nest in the 

 side of a hay-rick. 



The British nuthatch {Sitta europcea britamiica) differs from ^". 

 eiiropcea typica of Sweden in having the under side buff instead of 

 white, and from S. eiiropcea ccesia of Germany in the lighter chestnut 

 of the flanks, the paler breast and abdomen, and by the more slender 

 and pointed beak, of which the profile is usually more arched and more 

 sharply ridged. 



Tree-Creeoep Like the nuthatch, the tree-creeper is the sole British 

 (Certhia representative of a family of birds, to which it gives 



familiaris) ^^ name Certhiidae. This family is distributed over 

 the greater part of the northern hemisphere, inclusive 

 of the Indo-Burmese countries, and is also well represented in Austral- 

 asia and Africa. In place of the blue and chestnut so characteristic of 

 the nuthatch, the colours of the plumage are generally a mixture of 

 black, brown, rufous, grey, buff, and white. From the titmice the group 

 is distinguished by the absence of feathers or bristles over the nostrils, 

 and bristles at the gape (which are generally developed in the titmice) 

 are likewise wanting. As a rule, the shank of the leg is stouter than 

 in the nuthatch, and the hind-toe is always shorter. The members 

 of the typical genus are broadly distinguished from the nuthatch by 

 the long, graduated, and stiff-feathered tail, which serves the same 

 purpose as that of a woodpecker ; but this must not be considered 

 characteristic of the family, as in most of the genera the tail is of the 

 nuthatch-type. In most cases the beak is long and curved. 



2 M 



