WALL-CREEPER. 521 
five in number, and are white in ground-colour, very finely freckled near 
the large end with reddish brown, and with numerous minute violet-grey 
underlying spots. They vary from ‘8 to °75 inch in length and from °6 to 
-52 inch in breadth. 
The food of the Wall-Creeper is chiefly composed of insects which it 
picks from the crevices of the rocks, spiders, small beetles, and larve 
which lie concealed under the moss on rocks and stones. Bailly states also 
that it feeds on ant’s eggs and small worms; and sometimes it catches an 
insect on the wing. 
The male Wall-Creeper in breeding-plumage has the general colour of 
the upper parts slate-grey, darker on the head, and darkest on the rump ; 
the lesser wing-coverts are crimson, the greater ones the same, but shading 
into brownish black at the tip; the quills are black, tipped with ashy 
brown, all, except the first three, crimson on the basal half of the outer 
web, and the second to the sixth with two large white spots; the tail 
is black, broadly tipped with grey, which becomes almost white on the 
outermost two feathers at each side. The throat and breast are black, 
the rest of the underparts very dark grey, the under tail-coverts tipped 
with greyish white. Bull and legs black; irides brown. ‘The female in 
breeding- plumage is similar to the male ; but the black on the throat is not 
so much developed. In winter plumage, in both sexes, the throat is 
greyish white, the head is suffused with brown, and the upper parts are 
lighter and browner. Young birds resemble adults in winter plumage ; but 
the crimson on the wings is not so developed, the bill is shorter and nearly 
straight, and the spots on the wings are buff. 
