120 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



THE TRUE CREEPERS. GENUS CERTHIA. 



Certhia, Linn., Syst. Nat, i., p. 184(1766). 



Type, C. familiariS) Linn. 



The true Tree-Creepers such as our British birds are 

 about ten in number, and are found in the northern parts 

 of both Hemispheres, as far south as Guatemala in Central 

 America, and over the greater part of Europe and Asia, as 

 far as the Himalayas and the Burmese countries. The char- 

 acters of the genus have been explained under the heading of 

 the family (vide supra). 



THE TREE-CREEPER. CERTHIA FAMILIARIS. 



Certhia familiaris, Linn., S. N., i., p. 184 (1766); Macg., Br. 

 B., iii., p. 33 (1840); Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 468 (1874); 

 Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 195, pi. 122 (1874); B. O. U. 

 List Br. B, p. 45 (1883) ; Seeb., Br. B., i., p. 511 (1883) ; 

 Gadow, Cat. B., Brit. Mus., viii., p. 323 (1883); Lilford, 

 Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. iv. (1887) '> Saunders, Man., p. 109 

 (1889); W } att, Brit. B., pi. 9, fig. 2 (1894). 



Adult Male. General colour above brown, with a tinge of 

 golden buff, the head and back streaked with ashy-grey centres 

 to the feathers ; the rump and upper tail-coverts orange-tawny, 

 the feathers long and fluffy, and having a silky white mark just 

 before their tips ; lores dusky, as also the feathers below the eye 

 and along the upper edge of the ear-coverts ; above the eye a 

 streak of silky white; sides efface and under surface of body 

 also silky white ; wing-coverts tipped with yellowish-buff, the 

 greater coverts with white, before which is a black band ; the 

 quills dusky-brown, chequered with a broad bar of buffy-white 

 across the inner primaries and secondaries, bordered above and 

 below with black; the inner secondaries externally buff towards 

 their ends, the innermost black before their white tips ; tail- 

 feathers brown, with reddish-brown shafts ; bill dark brown, the 

 lower mandible paler ; feet brown ; iris clear hazel. Total 

 length, 5'5 inches; oilmen, 07; wing, 2*5; tail, 2*3; tarsus, 

 0-6. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male in plumage. Total length, 

 5 inches; wing, 2*5 ; tarsus, 0*55. 



