44 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Eggs. Seven to twelve. White, yellowish-grey, 

 or ocherous. Some authorities describe them as 

 being occasionally white tinged with green, or grey 

 tinged with pink, spotted with dark reddish-brown, 

 and underlying markings of grey. Size about 1.3 by 

 .9 in. (See Plate XIV.) 



Time. May is the principal laying month ; how- 

 ever, eggs have been found in April and right 

 through June. 



Remarks. Migratory and resident. The first 

 kind of birds arrive in March and depart in October. 

 Notes : whuit, whuit. Local and other names : 

 Spotted Rail, Water Rail, Water Crake (this name 

 is also applied to the Dipper), Spotted Gallinule, 

 Spotted Water Hen. Slips quietly off nest and 

 hides amongst surrounding vegetation. 



CREEPER, TREE. 



(Certhia famtharis.) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family CERTHID^E (CREEPERS). 



Description of Parent Birds. 

 Length about five inches. Bill 

 rather long, curved downwards, 

 dark brown on the top, and dirty 

 white, tinged with yellow, under- 

 neath. Irides hazel. Crown dark 

 brown, spotted and streaked with 

 pale brown. Back of neck, back, 

 and rump tawny-brown, mixed 

 with ash - grey. Wing-coverts 

 YOUNG TREE CREEPER, brown, tipped with greyish-yellow ; 

 quills variegated with brown and 

 black, some of them tipped with light grey. Tail 

 tawny-brown, the feathers being strong in the shaft, 



