CERT HI A. 



777 



that of the various woodpeckers, " volatu iindoso," as 

 White of Selborne gives it, "opening and closin 

 the wings at every stroke, and so always rising or fall- 

 ing in curves." The timid retiring habits of this 

 bird cause it to be very little noticed by people 

 in general ; but it requires only to be listened 

 for, and its faint tsint, Unit, is sure to be heard 

 in almost every clump of trees ; and it" watched for, 

 it will very soon be observed, as it flits from out? 

 tree to another, alighting generally on the trunk 

 within a few inches of the ground, and then either 

 ascending spirally, or creeping quietly along the out- 

 line, with a rapid uniform motion, its tail bent inward 

 towards the tree, now and then peeping round to 

 take a glimpse at the spectator, and as soon as it 

 thinks itself observed, disappearing behind. It will 

 often flutter down after it has ascended a few feet, 

 and again alight near the ground, ascending the same 

 tree several times in different directions. This we 

 have seen it do repeatedly, but we have never yet 

 observed it to descend perpendicularly, or even ob- 

 liquely, creeping with the head downward, though it is 

 very commonly stated in the books to run with equal 

 facility in all directions, upwards or downwards. It 

 creeps with wonderful ease, however, along or across 

 the lower side of a horizontal bough, inserting its 

 slender bill into the cracks and crevices of the bark, 

 and there iinding abundance of minute insects and 

 larvae, chiefly of the coleopterous order, which, in 

 such situations, often lurk in perfect security from 

 the attacks of most other insectivorous birds. Some- 

 times the little active creeper may be descried search- 

 ing about upon the topmost branches of a tall tree 

 sometimes it may be seen examining the smaller 

 twiiis and sprays and sometimes, again, the same 

 indefatigable little creature may be observed creeping 

 about upon a mossy lichen-covered paling, pulling 

 out minute spiders from their lurking holes, and 

 drawing forth the tiny inhabitants of every chink and 

 cranny. Upon such a situation the writer of this 

 once saw one descend obliquely backwards, which 

 rather tends to confirm his opinion that this species 

 is unable to creep (as the nuthatch often does) per- 

 pendicularly downwards. 



The foot of the common nuthatch (Sitta Europesa), 

 though another beautiful example of the anisodactyle 

 conformation (fully described in the general article 

 BIRD), is very much stouter, and more strongly 

 formed, than that of the tree-creeper, and it has 

 proportionally much greater power of grasping ; and 

 the whole weight of the bird (which is more equally 

 poised than in the creeper) pressing wholly upon the 

 feet, and not being in part supported by a stiff tail, 

 as the creeper is, its hold is much more exclusively 

 by the muscular contraction of the toes, whilst its 

 claws, though larger and stronger than those of the 

 tree-creeper, are rather less curved, and are also very 

 far from being so sharplv pointed and hitching 'AS those 

 of that bird. Thus constructed, however, the nut- 

 hatch ascends and descends the perpendicular boles 

 of trees with equal facility ; whilst the tree-creeper, 

 notwithstanding all that has been said and written 

 about it to the contrary, is enabled to hold on and 

 creep upon a perpendicular surface, more from the 

 extreme sharpness of its long, narrow, and very hooked 

 front claws, than by any other means. When ascend- 

 ing perpendicularly, it requires to be further supported 

 by its stiff deflected tail, and is thus enabled to creep 

 in a straight downward direction. Even the hind 



claw, which, in the nuthatch, is curved, and adapted 

 for taking a very firm hold when descending, in 

 the tree-creeper is much longer and straighter than 

 either of the others, and is tit only to assist in the 

 ascent. 



The tree-creeper, in short, appears to hold on upon 

 the perpendicular bole of a tree much more in the 

 manner of a cat than the nuthatch does, by means of 

 the sharpness of its front claws, and, so far as the 

 observation of the writer of this article goes, it can 

 only descend a steep declivity in the same way as 

 that animal does, backwards, the form of its claws 

 precluding the possibility of its taking a very firm 

 hold with the head downward ; and, accordingly, 

 though it may very commonly be observed to ascend 

 the same tree many times successively in different 

 directions, it never creeps down again like the nut- 

 hatch, but always flutters down. again and again, as 

 soon as it has arrived at a certain height, and re- 

 alights, as it did the first time, near the. ground. 



There would appear therefore to be this difference 

 between the only two strictly anisodactyle birds of 

 this country, that the nuthatch holds on to the bark 

 of a tree solely by the muscular contraction of the foot, 

 which, as a hold, is qqually available in any direction, 

 upwards or downwards, whilst the tree-creeper hangs 

 more as a cat does, by its very sharply-hooked trout 

 claws, and requires, therefore, to be further propped 

 up by its tail, the stiff-pointed feathers of which, 

 hitching upon every inequality, furnish, in conjunction 

 with the toes, a very efficient support for so light a 

 creature, but a support which can only be available 

 in an ascending direction. This species is indeed so 

 very light, that, being held up in great measure by 

 the tail, as it creeps up the perpendicular bole of a 

 tree, there is hardly sufficient pressure upon the foot 

 to cause much contraction of the toes ; and it is only 

 when on the under surface of a horizontal bough, 

 with its nadir uppermost, that the whole weight of 

 the bird hangs by the feet ; and the tendons of its 

 legs are so admirably constructed, that the greater 

 pull there is thus upon them, the more closely do the 

 toes contract, and the firmer consequently is their 

 hold, so that the bird is thus enabled to creep with 

 its back downward with little or no muscular exertion. 

 The food of the creeper mostly consists of the 

 various insects and larva?, (chiefly coleopterous), which 

 it finds abundantly in the crevices and chinks of the 

 bark of trees, under the scales of the bark, and among 

 mosses ; its own incurved slender bill being unable to 

 penetrate even into the decayed wood, it may com- 

 monly be observed, in winter, to follow in the rear of 

 a train of titmice, gleaning up various insects and 

 spiders which their more powerful bills had aroused 

 and startled into day-light. The eggs of spiders also, 

 and of various lepidopterous insects which are glued 

 to the bark, often furnish it with a repast ; and it ap- 

 pears also to feed on certain seeds, as these are often 

 found in its stomach. Upon the whole, it is not only 

 a very harmless little creature, doing no sort of injury 

 to any property on which man sets a value, but from 

 the immense number of injurious insects it destroys 

 in the egg or rudimental state, it confers a real benefit 

 to the possessors of growing timber. The peculiarity 

 of its actions and habits, also, so unlike those of the 

 generality of British birds, render it a very interesting 

 object to look at, to whoever is fond of studying 

 natural history in the wild woods. 

 The tree-creeper has but very little song, and most 



