PIED CREEPER. 



immediately above which, on each side the head, 

 is a slight tuft of yellow plumes : legs rather slen- 

 der, and flesh-coloured, or pale brown. The 

 female differs in being of a pale orange-yellow, 

 slightly tinged with brown, on the wings and tail, 

 and is furnished with wattles like the male : the 

 tongue is longer than the beak, and divided into 

 four filaments at the tip. Native of the island of 

 Tongataboo, where it is celebrated for the sweet- 

 ness of its notes, and may be considered, in the 

 words of Monsr. Viellot, as the Coryphasus of the 

 deserts, enlivening the solitary woods with its 

 melody, from the dawn of morning to the close of 

 day. 



PIED CREEPER^ 



Certhia varia. C. albo nigroque varia, fascfa supra infraque-oculari, 



tectricumque duplici alba. 

 Black and white Creeper, with a white baud above and below the 



eyes, and a double one on the wing-coverts. 

 Black and white Creeper. Edw. pi. 300. /. 2. 

 Motacilla varia.? M. albo nigroque maculata, fasciis alarum 



duabus albis, cauda bifid a. Lin. Syst. Nat. 

 White-polled Warbler. Perm. Arct. Zool. Lath. syp. 

 Le Grimpereau varie. Viell. Ccrth. pi. 74. 



LENGTH about four inches and a half: colour 

 black and white. The male is described by Ed- 

 wards in the following manner. " The bill, legs, 

 and feet are black : from the corner of the mouth 

 beneath the eye passes a broad black plat of 

 feathers, which is surrounded by a white line 



