CERTHIA. 211 



coverts mixed black and white ; iris pale reddish brown ; eyelids plumbeous. 

 Bill black ; the gape and the greater portion of the lower mandible flesh 

 colour ; legs plumbeous; claws dark horn colour. (Gates.) 



Length. 7-5 to 8 inches ; wing 3-5 ; tail 4 ; tarsus I ; culmen 07. 



Hab. Burmah and Pegu. Gates says generally distributed over the Pegu 

 division ; abundant in the Thayetmyo and Prome districts. Procured also at 

 Rangoon and in Karenne. Found generally in gardens and secondary jungle, 

 and the outskirts of cultivation. Like the rest of the species of the genus, 

 makes the telegraph wire and posts serve as a perch from which to swoop on 

 insects. 



Group. CERTHIOMQRPEUE. 



Bill entire, and no I notched. 



Family . GERTRUDE. 



Bill either straight and subulate, or slender, long, acute, entire and much 

 curved ; culmen keeled ; tarsi comparatively short, covered anteriorly with 

 transverse scutae, except in Tichodroma, in which genus they are nearly fused 

 together ; sides of the tarsus with one long scutum ; feet large ; toes more 

 often syndactyle ; hind toe and claw large ; wing and tail variable in size 

 and structure, the wing with ten primaries. 



This family of Tenuirostral or slender-billed Passerine birds are commonly 

 known as Creepers. They are for the most part adapted to live upon the trunks 

 and branches of trees, and to feed upon insects which infest the bark. The 

 form of the bill is either long or short, slender or stout, and capable of pene- 

 trating very hard substances. They cling with their feet to the perpendicular 

 surface of trees, resting upon the stiff quills of their tail, and creep from the 

 base to the summit of the stem, with short jerking movements, searching every 

 crevice as they ascend. They are divided into Certhiina, or true Creepers, 

 and Sittin<K- t or Nuthatches, the latter having affinities for the Woodpeckers. 



Sub-Family- CERTHIIN.E. 



Bill slender, longer than the head, curved downwards ; wings moderate or 

 long, ample, rounded ; primaries ten, the first always present, though 

 generally very short ; tarsus anteriorly covered with transverse scales in Sal- 

 pornis and Certhia fused together in Tichodroma ; tongue not cleft. 



Non-migratory birds of small size. 



Gen. Certhia. *. 



Bill moderate, slender, slightly curved, entire ; nostrils basal, partially 

 covered by a vaulted membrane ; wings long, the tip formed by the 3rd to 6th 

 primaries j tail stiff, the feathers much pointed, generally longer than wing 



