598 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



The female has all the upper surface brown ; wings reddish 

 brown, margined with bright rufous ; tail rufous ; over each 

 eye a superciliary stripe of buffy white ; throat bufiy white ; 

 from the lower angle of the bill on each side a narrow streak 

 of brown ; breast and under sm^face buffy, crossed with 

 numerous irregular bars of dark brown. 



Fanuly CERTHIAD^? 

 Genus CLIMACTERIS, Temminck. 



Great additions have been made to the species of this well- 

 defined and singular group of Australian birds, two out of 

 the six now known being all that had been described prior to 

 the publication of the folio edition. With the exception of 

 Tasmania, every colony is inhabited by one or other of the 

 following species. 



Sp. 3G6. CLIMACTERIS SCANDENS, Temm. 

 Brown Tree-Creeper, 



Buff-winffed Honey-eater, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 178. 

 Climactei-is scandens, Temm. PI. Col., 281. fig. 2. 



Climacteris scandens, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv. pi. 93. 



The Brown Tree-Creeper inhabits the whole of the south- 

 eastern portion of the Australian continent, from South Aus- 

 tralia to New South Wales. It gives a decided preference to 

 the open thinly-timbered forests of Eucalypti, as well as the 

 flats studded with the apple-trees {Angopliorcd), the bark of 

 which, being rough and uneven, affords numerous retreats for 

 various tribes of insects ; its food, however, is not only sought 

 for upon the boles and branches of the trees, but is obtained 

 by penetrating the decayed and hollow parts ; and it even 

 dives into the small hollow spouts of the branches in search 

 of spiders, ants, and other insects : although its form would 



