124 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 331 (1883) ; Seeb., Hist. Brit. B , i., 

 p. 518, pi. 1 8 (1883); Saunders, Man., p. in (1889); 

 Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. xv. (1890). 



Adult. Above delicate pearly-grey, browner on the crown, 

 and gradually shading off into blackish on the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail, the latter tipped with white spots ; the wing- 

 coverts beautiful crimson, the bastard wing black, and the 

 greater coverts black on the inner web, crimson on the outer 

 one ; the innermost greater coverts grey, like the outer web of 

 the adjoining inner secondaries ; primary coverts and primaries 

 black, externally crimson for the greater part of the outer web ; 

 sides of face and throat greyish-white, remainder of the under 

 surface from the fore-neck downwards slaty grey, verging into 

 black on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries dark crimson ; quills black below, with 

 a white spot near the end of the second, third, fourth, and 

 fifth primaries, and a second white spot near the base of the 

 same quills ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Total length, 

 6-5 inches; oilmen, i'i ; wing, 4-0; tail, 2*1 ; tarsus, 0-95. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. Total length, 5-5 inches ; 

 wing, 4*0. 



During the Nesting Season the birds assume a black throat and 

 chest, which are not so distinctly marked in the female as in 

 the male. 



Range in Great Britain. A very rare and accidental visitor, 

 of which two occurrences have been recorded; one as long ago 

 as 1792, as we learn from a letter written by Robert Marsham 

 to Gilbert White, of Selbourne, in which he states that a Wall- 

 Creeper had been shot at his house at Stratton-Strawless, in 

 Norfolk. Mr. F. S. Mitchell had also a specimen in his collec- 

 tion which was shot at Sabden, in Lancashire, on the 8th of 

 May, 1872. It was observed flying round a tall chimney, and 

 attracted the attention of a number of mill-hands by its bright 

 colour. It appeared to be a solitary bird and not to have a 

 mate with it. 



"Range outside the British Islands. An inhabitant of the moun- 

 tains of Southern Europe, extending into Central Asia as far 

 east as China, and found in nearly all the mountain-chains 



