76 PASSERES. 



rials being some times accumulated to fill up a wide 

 rent, so as to form a firm base. Six or eight ash- 

 coloured eggs, marked with dusky reddish spots, 

 are here deposited, on which the female sits very 

 intently, keeping her place during the near pre- 

 sence of an intruder, but watching an opportunity 

 to dart silently away, if his attention is for a 

 moment averted. 



The voice of the Creeper is a monotonous cry, 

 not very loud, but frequently and suddenly re- 

 peated, especially during its short flights from 

 tree to tree. At the season of incubation the old 

 birds are more than usually noisy. The food on 

 which it subsists consists principally of small 

 beetles, bugs, and flies that habitually conceal 

 themselves in the crevices of bark and similar 

 places : but Wilson mentions having frequently 

 found in its stomach the seeds of the pine tree, as 

 well as a large quantity of gravel. The foot and 

 tail of this species show a beautiful adaptation of 

 structure to peculiarities of habit. 



TRIBE III. DENTIROSTRES. 



THE upper mandible of the beak in this Tribe 

 is notched on each side near the tip ; in one 

 Family, that of the Shrikes, this indentation is 

 very decided, and accompanied with a projecting 

 tooth, so as to present a connecting link with the 

 Accipitres, the beak also being very strong, hook- 

 ed, and sharp-pointed, and the habits of the birds 

 ferocious and carnivorous. But even in these the 



