518 BRITISH BIRDS. 
TICHODROMA MURARIA. 
WALL-CREEPER. 
(PLate 18.) 
Certhia muralis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 607 (1760). 
Certhia muraria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 184 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Gmelin, Latham (Degland), Gerbe, (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Dresser), &c. 
Tichodroma muraria (Linn.), Illig. Prodr. p. 210 (1811). 
Petrodroma muraria (Linn.), Vierll. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 106 (1818). 
Tichodroma pheenicoptera, Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 412 (1820). 
Tichodroma europzea, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiy. pt. 1. p. 187 (1826). 
Tichodroma phcenicoptera, Temm., vy. subhemalayana, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Mise. 
p- 82 (1844). 
Tichodroma nepalensis, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 225 (1850), 
Tichodroma muralis (Briss.), David § Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 88 (1877). 
From the evidence to be obtained bearing upon the subject, there can 
be little doubt that this charming bird has a remote claim to be included 
with the species that occasionally wander from their natural habitat to our 
islands. So long ago as 1676 Willughby and Ray stated that the bird was 
said to have occurred in this country ; but as their evidence was not from 
personal observation, or from that of any specified authority, it must be 
accepted with doubt. However, as stated by Mr. Bell (‘ Zoologist,’ 1875, 
p. 4664), Mr. Marsham, of Stratton Hall, in Hampshire, an accurate and 
observant naturalist and a Fellow of the Royal Society, in a letter to his 
correspondent, Gilbert White, dated October 30, 1792, writes :- —““ My man 
has just now shot me a bird which was flying about my house. I am 
confident I have never seen its likeness before. But on application to 
Willughby I conclude it is the Wall-Creeper or Spider-catcher. I find he 
had not seen it in England. It is very beautifully coloured, though the 
chief is cinereous; but the shades of red on the wings, and the large 
spots of white and yellow on the quill-feathers are uncommonly pleasing.” 
In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1876 (p. 4839) a second specimen is recorded from 
- Lancashire by Mr. F. 8S. Mitchell. He writes:—*On the 8th: of May, 
1872, a fine specimen of this continental species was shot at Sabden, a 
village a few miles from here, at the foot of Pendle Hill; and as I am not 
aware of its ever having been noticed before in this country, I send below 
the particulars. It was seen flying about by itself—its bright colours 
drawing the attention of a lot of mill-hands—did not appear to have a 
mate, and was at length shot by a man named Edward Laycock, who took 
it to Mr. W. Naylor, of Whalley, an accomplished naturalist, and who has 
for many years been President of the Accrington Naturalists’ Society. 
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