SP1IENOCIC1ILA. 335 



inner webs ; tail black tipped with ashy, which gradually changes 

 to while and increases in amount towards the outer feathers ; chin 

 and throat pure while; remainder of lower plumage ashy slate; 

 the under tail-coverts fringed wilh white; axillaries crimson. 



In summer the crown of the head becomes grey and the chin 

 and throat black. The female is said to have a smaller extent of 

 the throat black than the male. 



The young resemble the adults in winter plumage, but there is 

 less crimson on Ihe wing, and all the quills have each two rufous 

 spots on the inner web. These spots gradually disappear, except 

 on the first four large primaries, where they eventually turn 

 white. 



Bill black; iris blackish brown; legs, feet, and claws black 

 (Scully). 



Length nearly 7 ; tail 2-3 ; wing 4 ; tarsus '9 ; bill from 

 gape 1*3. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Bhutan to the 

 extreme North-west. This species is merely a winter visitor, and 

 is found from October to March at all elevations, but generally 

 above 2500 feet. It, however, sometimes descends to the plains, 

 Hume recording one instance when he procured it at Etawah on 

 the Jumna river, and I have seen it from the Bhutan Doars and 

 Dehra. In spring it retreats north, and no doubt breeds in Tibet 

 and other portions of Central Asia. It inhabits a considerable 

 portion of Europe and Asia, and is said to be found in N. Africa. 



Habits, $-c. The Wall-Creeper frequents cliffs and rocks, about 

 which it climbs With great ease in search of its food, which con- 

 sists chiefly of spiders and insects. It does not appear to breed 

 in India. Its nest consists of moss, grass, and hair worked up to- 

 gether in a crevice of a rock, and it lays from, three to five eggs, 

 which are white freckled with reddish brown and some secondary 

 shell-marks of violet-grey. 



Genus SPHENOCICHLA, Godwin-Austen and Walden, 1875. 



The genus Sphenociclila contains two remarkable birds which, 

 following Sharpe and having regard also to the entire absence of 

 rictal bristles, I do not hesitate to place with the Wrens. They 

 are of strong, heavy build, with large feet. Unfortunately 

 nothing is known of their habits, and we have nothing but 

 structure to guide us, and I am of opinion that the absence of 

 rictal bristles, a character possessed by so few birds of this section, 

 is of more importance than any other. 



In Sphenocichla the sexes are alike, and, judging from a con- 

 siderable series of S. liumii, the young do not differ from the adults. 

 The bill is perfectly conical and sharp-pointed when viewed later- 

 ally, about the length of the head or a little shorter; the wing is 

 short and rounded ; the tail of twelve feathers is greatly graduated, 

 the outer feather reaching only over two thirds of the tail ; the 

 tarsi and feet are very strong. 



