CLIMBING LEAFLOVE. 2J3 



But that this union of the rasorial and the scan- 

 serial habits may be rendered perfectly unquestion- 

 able, we shall now cite an instance where they are 

 actually united in the same bird ! "Wilson, in 

 describing the Pine-creeping-warbler, (Mniotilta 

 pinus, Swains.*) says, " it runs along the bark of 

 the pines ; sometimes alighting and feeding on the 

 ground, and almost always, when disturbed, flying 

 up and dinging to the trunks of the trees ;" and 

 again, " these birds are easily known by their man- 

 ner of rising from the ground and alighting" not 

 on the branches, but " on the body of the tree." 

 Here, then, is a bird, belonging to the scansorial 

 sub-genus of Sylvicola, which nevertheless feeds also 

 upon the ground like a rasorial type. 



It now remains only to describe the plumage of 

 this remarkable species. The upper part of the 

 head as far as the nape is clear cinereous, which 

 becomes paler on the sides and ears and changes to 

 dull white on the chin and halfway down the 

 throat ; beyond the nape the colour of the upper 

 part of the neck and back is light olive, as are 

 the wing-covers, but this assumes a buff tinge on 

 the rump and finally becomes clear ferruginous 

 or light cinnamon colour on the tail ; the quills are 

 darker and more of an olive -brown, the inner webs 

 being black with a narrow edging of buff on the 

 basal half inside. The under plumage is buff-white, 

 deepest on the flanks and under tail-covers, which 

 almost assimilate to the pale ferruginous of the 

 * See also Northern Zool. U. p. 205. 



