THE CREEPERS 



1611 



ing an open cup-shaped nest upon a branch, and in which the tail feathers are soft, 

 we select for special notice the wall creeper. 



The beautiful creeper ( Tichodroma murarza), which alone represents 

 Wall Creeper ,, .... 



the genus, passes its entire existence in traversing the surfaces of preci- 

 pices in pursuit of the spiders and flies constituting its food. Hence the bill is long, 

 slender, and almost straight, adapted for probing interstices and cracks, such as 

 usually constitute the haunts of its prey. The wing is large and rounded, like that 

 of a butterfly, thus affording an easy support as the bird half flies, half flits about 

 the mural precipices in which it makes its home; the tail is slightly rounded, and 

 composed of twelve feathers; the metatarsus is smooth, and the claws are sharp and 



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' 



THE TREE CREEPER. 



curved. Residing in the mountain ranges of Europe, and ranging eastward into 

 Central Asia, the wall creeper is found throughout the Himalayas, although only as 

 a winter visitor. During the summer months it makes its home among precipitous 

 rocks, either in rugged ravines or upon the faces of cliffs. The flight of this bird 

 almost recalls that of a large butterfly, as it makes its way from one crevice to 

 another, hanging momentarily with expanded wings in one spot, thence shuffling 

 upward for a foot or two, and then suddenly darting off to explore another corner 

 of the rocks, ever in restless motion, save when it creeps to roost in some secure 

 fissure. The wall creeper nests from April till June, depositing four or five pure 

 white eggs, sparsely speckled with red, in a nest built of straw, grass, and moss, 

 intermingled with wool and feathers. 



