516 BRITISH BIRDS. 
three to five. The eggs of the first clutch are from six to nine in number, 
They are, when blown, pure white or creamy white in ground-colour, 
rather richly marked with brownish red spots, and with a few greyish 
underlying markings. They differ considerably in the amount and 
arrangement of the markings; but it will usually be noticed that all the 
eggs in one clutch are very similar. In some clutches the spots are con- 
fined to a zone round the large end of the egg ; some are very rich in colour, 
others pale. In other clutches this zone is almost confluent ; whilst in 
others the markings are few, and composed of very deep-reddish-brown 
spots almost like those on the egg of the Chiffchaff. They vary in length 
from ‘7 to ‘58, and in breadth from ‘5 to 45 inch. 
The food of the Creeper is composed principally of the insects which lurk 
in the crevices of the bark. Spiders are also a favourite morsel with the 
bird. Its flight is undulating, and not very rapid. 
The typical form of the Creeper has the general colour of the upper parts 
dark brown, streaked with rufous-brown and buffish white, paler on the 
rump and darkest on the head; the wing-coverts are brown, tipped with 
pale buff; the wings are dark brown, barred with paler brown, and the 
secondaries are tipped with dull white; the tail-feathers, which are stiff 
and pointed, are reddish brown, with yellow shafts. The colour of the 
underparts is silvery white, suffused with buff on the flanks and under 
tail-coverts. Bill dark brown above, pale brown below; legs, feet, and 
claws brown; irides hazel. The female does not differ in colour from the 
male. Young birds closely resemble their parents, but the bill is much 
shorter and almost straight. 
