440 CERTHIID^. 



Measurements. Length about 150 mm.; wing 84 to 91 mm.; 

 tail 45 to 52 mm. ; tarsus about 17 mm. ; culmeu 21 to 24 mm. 



Distribution. Nothing has been added to our knowledge of this 

 bird's distribution since 1889. Throughout a considerable portion 

 of the plains of India, from the foot of the Himalayas South to 

 the Kistua Eiver. On the West the limits of this species appear 

 to be Grurgaon, Sambhar, Ajmer and Abu. Further South it lias 

 been met with at Dhulia in Khandesh and Blanford records it 

 from Chanda, Sirancha and the Godavari Valley. Ball obtained 

 it at Sambulpar and at various localities in Cbutia Nagpore and I 

 have seen a specimen collected somewhere in Behar. 



Nidification. The nest of this bird was first taken by Cleveland 

 at Gurgaon on the 16th of April and subsequently Mr. T. II. Bell 

 took a good many nests dui'ing March and April at Khandesh. 

 The nests are extraordinary and bear no resemblance to those of 

 Tree-Creepers of the genus Gerthia. They are sh allow cup-shaped 

 affairs made of a matted mass of scraps of leaf-stalks and leaves, 

 bits of baik and lichen bound together with spiders' webs and 

 decorated externally with lichen, spiders' egg-bags, and caterpillar 

 excreta. The position selected is the horizontal branch of a tree, 

 generally at some point where a vertical twig or shoot can be used 

 as a support to one of the sides. The nests are always placed in 

 leafless trees on the bare branches and are practically invisible 

 from below, so that the birds must be watched on to the nests 

 before they can be found. Sometimes, however, the sitting hen 

 gives away her position b}^ answering her mate as he sits singing 

 in the vicinity of the nest. The number of eggs seem to be 

 nearly always two and very rarely three and these, too, are quite 

 unlike what we should have expected. The ground-colour is a 

 grey, or greenish-white according to Cleveland, and the markings 

 consist of very dark brown tiny spots and specks sparsely scattered 

 over the greater part of the egg but sometimes more numerous in 

 an ill-defined cap or ring at the larger end. Cleveland's egg 

 measured 17'3xl3-4 mm. and those given me by Mr. Bell 

 average about 16*9 x 13"0 mm. The surface is smooth and fine 

 but dull and not very hard. 



Habits. This Creeper is a bird of the plains, being found in 

 small flocks in winter and in pairs as soon as the breeding season 

 corainences. Davidson found it not uncommon in Khandesh, 

 common in the northern end of the Western Ghats along the 

 Tapti River. The country here is hot and low-lying, mostly flat hut 

 containing small wooded hills. They haunt the larger trees for 

 preference, but are also sometimes found on smaller ones and they 

 frequent both forest and more open well-wooded country. Their 

 actions on a tree are much the same as those of birds of the genus 

 Certhia and they are equally active and quick in their movements. 

 Blanford records their flight as rather swift and their call as a 

 whistling note. 



