1792 RECOGNITION OF THE WALL CREEPER 251 



feathers at their base on one side reddish." " It was taken 

 in Carniola." " It is the size of the common Creeper* or 

 Certhia familiaris : its nostrils oblong ; tail cinerous at the 

 point; the first four quill feathers distinguished on the 

 inner side by two white spots." He concludes thus, — 

 "Migrat solitario sub finem autumni; turres et muros 

 oedium altiorum adit; araneas venatur; saltitando scandit; 

 volatu vago et incerto fertur volucris muta." You are sure, 

 I trust, that your bird is not the Sitta Europcea, or 

 Nut-hatch. 



I have written so soon, that you may examine your bird 

 well again, before the specimen decays. Your Lady's turkey- 

 hen is a most prolific dame ; and must, I think, lay herself 

 to death. You persist, very laudably in your curious ex- 

 periments on trees. Whenever you recommend my book, 

 which begins to be better known, you lay me under fresh 

 obligations. I am writing my account of the Fern-owl, and 

 endeavouring to vindicate it from the foul imputation of 

 being a Cajprimulgiis. My letter will make a fierce appear- 

 ance with a quotation from Aristotle, and another from 

 Pliny: but whether the R. S. will read it: or whether 

 afterwards they will print it, I know not. 



With all good wishes for your health, and prosperity 



Your obliged, & humble servant, 



Gil. White. 



The history of the Fern-owl was, however, never 

 completed. Nothing shows the Selborne Naturalist's 

 general knowledge of ornithology better than the 

 way in which he recognised from description the 

 Wall Creeper shot at Stratton, though he had never 

 seen the bird. 



* This is a slip of White's pen. Scopoli's words {op. cit., p. 51) are, 

 ' Statura sittce,' that is, the size of the Nut-hatch, which is nearly true. — A. N. 



