CERTHIID.'I^. 



109 



THE TREE-CREEPER. 



Ckrthia famii.iaris, Linnaeus 



Although tolerably numerous, the Tree-Creeper is not very fre- 

 quently observed, owing to its small size, modest colours, and the 

 quickness with which it shifts its position on the trunk or branch of 

 the tree whereon it is seeking for spiders and other insects, which 

 lurk in the crevices of the bark. It is generally distributed through- 

 out Great Britain from Cornwall to Caithness, straggling to the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, and being resident in Skye, although not 

 found in the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland it is common in those 

 districts where old timber prevails. 



In Norway the Tree-Creeper is abundant in all the lower conifer- 

 woods up to the Trondhj ems-fiord, and eastward it occurs in 

 Sweden, Russia, and across Siberia to the Pacific, as far north as 

 trees flourish. Southward, it is found in Japan, Northern China, 

 and Asia north of the Himalayas—in and south of which several 

 distinct species replace it ; and, turning westward, in Persia, Asia 

 Minor, Algeria, the basin of the Mediterranean generally as far as 

 the Spanish Peninsula, and northwards throughout Europe wherever 

 suitable localities present themselves. A few ornithologists dis- 

 tinguish an Alpine form as C. hrachydaclyla, or C. costic. In North 



