430 CERTHIIDA. 
(444) Certhia himalayana himalayana. 
THe Himanayan TrEE-CREDPER. 
Certhia himalayana Vigors, P. Z 8., 1831, p. 174 (Himalaya); Blanf. 
& Oates, i, p. 329. 
Vernacular names. Chwa-sorai (Assamese). 
Description. Upper plumage and wing-coverts blackish brown, 
the feathers broadly centred fulvous; lower back, rump, and 
upper tail-coverts strongly tinged with ferruginous: tail pale 
reddish brown, regularly barred with black; a well-developed 
supercilium pale fulvous; ear-coverts black; wings dark brown, 
all the quills except the first three or four with a broad oblique 
fulvous band bordered with black; chin and throat pure white ; 
remainder of under plumage pale smoky-brown tinged strongly 
with fulvous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris dark brown ; upper mandible dark 
horny-brewn or blackish, the lower mandible fleshy-horny ; legs 
and feet fleshy, claws a little darker. 
Measurements. Length about 140 mm.; wing 65 to 71 mm.; 
tail 59 to 67 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen 15 to 22 mm. 
The bill varies very greatly, males generally vary between 19 and 
21 mm. and females between 17 and 20 mm., but other birds of 
both sexes, possibly young birds though in adult plumage, have 
bills of 15 and 16 mm. 
The young in this, as in all other Certhcas, have the lower 
plumage mottled and with indications of bars. 
Distribution. South Kashmir, most of the North-West Hima- 
layas, Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan to W. Assam. 
Nidification. The Himalayan Tree-Creeper breeds throughout 
its range between 5,000 and 9,000 feet or even higher. It is an 
early breeder. Dodsworth took several nests at Simla in April 
and few birds breed later than May, during which month Rattray, 
Buchanan and others found many nests round about the Murree 
Hills. It builds, like most Tree-Creepers, either in a crevice of a 
tree or in between a loose bit of bark and the trunk, the latter 
being the favourite position. The nest is made of a little grass or 
moss, often with a foundation of dead leaves, chips of wood, ete. 
and always with a lining of fur, wool or feathers. It nay be 
placed at any height from the ground, from 10 to 50 feet. 
The eggs number four to six and have a white ground, generally 
tinged with pink and are profusely spotted all over with light to 
dark brownish-red or pinkish-red. A few eggs have the ground 
pure white and the marks of dark reddish-brown in a ring round 
the larger end. Fifty eggs average 15°8 x 12°2mm. The maxima 
are 17:6 12°4 and 16°3x12°9 mm. and the minima 14:7 x 11-9 
and 149x11'8 mm. ‘The shape is a fairly broad oval and the 
texture is fine but glossless. 
Habits. This Creeper may be rarely found as low as 4,000 feet 
in winter and in summer ascends to some 10,000 feet. It is, of 
