CERTHIID.F, SALPORNIS 267 



Pasha procured examples at Tobbo, Langomori, and Wadelai on 

 the Upper White Nile. The Indian S. spilonotus typicus appears 

 to be confined to the plains of India to the South of the Himalayas. 



Habits. But little has been recorded regarding the habits of the 

 African race of this interesting species. The following remarks from 

 the " Ibis" for 1882, p. 255, refer to a female shot by Mr. Ay res 

 on the Ganyani river in Mashonaland on September 17, 1881, 

 "A pair were seen creeping about the trunks and branches of the 

 large trees. From the state of the ovaries the hen was evidently 

 about to lay. The crop contained caterpillars." 



Dr. Emin Bey, in a letter to Dr. Hartlaub (" P. Z. S.," 1884, 

 p. 416), remarks, " During a walk through the ripe Eleusine-fields, 

 a small bird met my attention climbing up and down the haulms 

 and flying in short whips from one haulm to another. What could 

 it be? Not a Nectarinia to be sure. The little unknown was very 

 silent. But how great was my pleasure and surprise as my shot 

 brought down a Certhia, certainly the first bird of this group met 

 with in Central Africa. All my efforts to procure more specimens 

 were fruitless." 



This specimen was described and figured by Dr. Hartlaub in 

 the Zoological Society's "Proceedings" for 1884, p. 415, pi. 37, 

 under the name of Salpornis emini] but Capt. Shelley remarks 

 regarding a specimen subsequently collected by Emin Pasha at 

 Tobbo (" P. Z. S.," 1888, p. 37): "This is, no doubt, S. emini, 

 Hartl., but I can detect no character by which it can be separated 

 from S. salvadorii after comparing it with three specimens of the 

 latter, two from Benguela and one from Mashonaland." 



Mr. F. J. Jackson shot a male and female of this Creeper on 

 February 11, on Mount Elgon in Central Africa, amongst acacia 

 trees. (" Ibis," 1891, p. 590). 



The following account of the Indian S. spilonotus is from the 

 "Fauna of British India" (Birds, vol. i, p. 333) Blanford 

 writes : " These birds keep to the largest trees, running round 

 the stems in all directions and flying with a steady flight, not 

 unlike that of a Woodpecker, but swifter and more elegant. They 

 have a whistling note." " Mr. Cleveland found the nest in Gurgaon 

 on April 16. It was placed on a horizontal bough of a tree 

 and attached to a vertical shoot. It was cup-shaped, and com- 

 posed of bits of leaf-stalk and leaves, chips of bark, and the dung 

 of caterpillars, bound together by cobwebs ; it was very firm and 

 elastic. The nest contained two young birds and one egg. The 



