Notes from Corsica. 31 



which were in holes from 70 to 100 feet from the ground, 

 the trees in places nearly eaten through with decay ; so that 

 it would have been foolish to have attempted to reach them. 

 This species spends much of its time pecking about at the 

 ends of the pine-branches. When I opened their gizzards they 

 contained many small beetles and other insects. The call-note 

 is a soft whistle, repeated quickly many times, often ending 

 with a peculiar hissing sound, which sounds like sch-icer, 

 sch-wer. They were very fearless when their nest was at- 

 tacked, the female often entering the nest and refusing to 

 move until the entrance was nearly reached, whilst the male 

 would take up his position a few feet above_, examining every- 

 thing that was going on. 



All the nests found seemed to have been pecked out by the 

 birds themselves, and in no case was clay used to make a hole 

 smaller. The old holes of the Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 were in hundreds in these trees, and though tenanted by 

 Swifts and Titmice, the Nuthatches never used them. The 

 holes were seldom neatly rounded, and in one instance only 

 the sides of a large crack were pecked away. The nest is 

 composed chiefly of strips of bark from the Mediterranean 

 heath (which the birds themselves pull off) and moss, a 

 few feathers, and a small quantity of hair. The sides of the 

 cavity well padded, so as to form a cup. 



The eggs, five or six, when blown, are white thickly speckled 

 with deep red ; they are about the size of tliose of the Great 

 Titmouse. 



The nest figured in the accompanying drawing (p. 30) was 

 cut out of a tree which, after I had taken the eggs, was 

 pulled down with a rope. 



31. Tkee-creeper. Cerihia familiaris. 



Not uncommon in the mountain-forest. Besides being a 

 large bird, the Corsican Tree-creeper is pure white below, 

 like the specimens in the British Museum from the Riviera 

 and the south of France. It is also darker above than ex- 

 amples from other parts of Europe, the ground-colour of the 

 head being black ; but, unfortunately, I only brought one 



