430 CERTHIID.E. 



(444) Certhia himalayana himalayana. 

 THE HIMALAYAN TREE-CREEPER. 



Certhia himalayana Vigors, P. Z S., 1831, p. 174 (Himalaya) ; Blanf. 

 & Gates, i, p. 329. 



Vernacular names. Clma-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. ; culmeu 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 Certhias, 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 Battray, 

 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, etc. 

 and always with a lining of fur, wool or feathers. It may 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 15-8x 12'2mm. The maxima 

 are 17'6xl2-4 and 16-^xl2 4 9mm. and the minima 14*7 x 11-9 

 and 14-9xll'8 mm. The shape is a fairly broad oval and the 

 texture is tine 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 



