OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 145 



anyone hunting for it, as the bird, continually emitting its 

 piercing call, fearlessly enters or leaves the nest in full view 

 of the observer. 



iVpparently the Tree-creeper needs httle water, for it is 

 rarely seen to drink. 



Nest. — In a hollow of a tree, and composed of grasses and 

 feathers. 



Eggs. — Three to a sitting ; deep f.esh colour, with in- 

 numerable spots of reddish-brown. Length, 0.85 inch ; 

 breadth, 0.7 inch. 



WHITE THROATED TREE^ 

 CREEPER, 



Climacteris leucophsea, Lath. 



Kli-mak-ter' is lu-ko-phe'a. 



Klimakter, from Mimax, ladder ; leukos, white; phaios, grey. 

 CuMACTERis PICUMNUS, Gould, "Birds of Australia," fol., vol. iv., pi. 98. 

 Geographical Distribution. — Areas 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. 

 Key to the Species. — General appearance brown ; throat white ; 



fawn-coloured band across wing ; centre pair of tail feathers dark 



grey ; tail square, soft, and shorter than wing ; bill slender, long 



and curved. 



It is a striking fact that there are no Woodpeckers in 

 Australia, the nearest approach to such birds being the Tree- 

 creepers, whose seven or eight species are distributed over 

 the whole continent. 



The White-throated Tree-creeper is a thoroughly arboreal 

 creature, choosing as its habitat the heavy timber along the 

 margin of a creek. Its manner of obtaining food is remark- 

 able, and peculiar to itself. Ahghting near the bottom of a 

 large tree-trunk it ascends in a spiral course by a series of 



11 



