328 



6 5 . Tail more graduated, the outer 

 feather being only half the 

 length of the tail ELACHUBA, p. 339. 



b. Tail of 10 feathers UROCICHLA, p. 340. 



c. Tail of 6 feathers PNOEPYGA, p. 342. 



Genus CERTHIA, Liiin., 1766. 



The genus Certhia contains six Indian species, which are chiefly 

 residents on the Himalayas, or migratory to a slight extent from 

 higher to lower altitudes or vice versa. 



Certhia appears to have only an autumn moult, but Biddulph 

 (Ibis, 1881), with regard to C. himalayana, speaks of a winter and 

 a summer plumage. A large series of skins of this species, how- 

 ever, does not support his assertion, and no European writer has 

 noticed the fact in regard to C. familiaris. The young are coloured 

 like the adult, but they often have on the lower plumage some 

 obsolete cross-bars, especially on the sides of the breast. 



The Tree-Creepers, as their name denotes, are found climbing 

 the trunks and branches of trees. They feed entirely on insects. 



Fig. 100. Foot of Certhia. 



They lay spotted eggs, which are deposited in a nest made of 

 twigs, grass, and moss in a hole in a tree or behind a piece of 

 detached bark. 



In Certhia the bill is sometimes as long as the head, more fre- 

 quently rather shorter, slender, and curved downwards. The 

 nostrils are long narrow slits. The wing is rounded, the first 

 primary being about half the length of the second, which, with the 

 third, falls short of the tip of the wing. The tail is longer than 

 the wing, and composed of twelve very stiff and pointed feathers, 

 and greatly graduated. The tarsus is scutellated, and the toes and 

 claws are extremely long. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Tail distinctly cross-barred throughout C. himalayana, p. 329. 



b. Tail plain or nearly so. 



a'. Lower plumage, except the under tail- 

 coverts, entirely white C. hodysoni, p. 329. 



b'. Chin, throat, and centre of breast and 

 abdomen white; remainder of lower 

 plumage fulvous-brown C. nepalensis, p. 330. 



