The Tree-Creeper. 173 



more strictly arboreal iu their habits, confining their attentions chiefly to the 

 trunks and larger branches of trees, ronnd which the}' run in a spiral curve. 



Our Tree-Creeper, even in its nidification cannot strictly be said to resemble 

 the Tits : certainly I never discovered true Titmice building their nests behind 

 loosened bark : indeed Seebohm himself admits that " their nests are all either 

 loosely made in holes of trees and walls, or suspended from the branches." Dr. 

 Gadow, however, says that the Ccrthtidce nest in holes ; but, even admitting this, 

 the nidification of the Creepers does not prove their affinity to the Tits, any more 

 than that of the Woodpeckers evidences their relationship to the Parrots. 



Family— CER THIW^. 



The Tree-Creeper. 



Certhia fainiliaris, LiNN. 



RESPECTING the geographical distribution of this species, Dr. Gadow says 

 that " it inhabits nearly all the Palsearctic and Nearctic regions. It is 

 found from Ireland and Spain to Norway, Palestine, Persia, Eastern 

 Turkestan, and Western China, being likewise found throughout Russia and the 

 greater part of Siberia. Still more to the eastwards it gradually loses much of 

 the dark colours, so that the white becomes predominant, and all the underparts, 

 including the under tail-coverts, become pure white. We may therefore look 

 upon the birds of Amoor-land, Eastern Siberia, and Japan as a pale race. I have, 

 however, seen specimens from Piedmont and South France (C. CostceJ in Mr. 

 Dresser's collection which are nearly as pale as the eastern birds. The Tree- 

 Creepers in Canada, and in the United States, eastward of the Rocky Mountains, 

 are like our European form." * 



• Catalogue of Birds, Vol. VIII, p. 325. 



