264 TREE-CREEPER. HOOPOE. 



dentally fall, it will dart down, and in most cases, catch it 

 with its claws before it reaches the ground, and replacing it 

 in its chink, resume its work. One slightly wounded, and 

 caught, was put in a cage, when, without loss of time, it 

 began battering the wood- work, just as it would have done a 

 nutshell, and persevered till it died, more from fatigue than 

 hunger, for they are bold birds, and feed readily. In 

 America, it is said that they can be tamed, and will creep up 

 and down their owner's body, poking their bills into seams 

 and button-holes, just as they do on trees in their wild state. 



The Certhia, or Tree- Creeper, like the Nuthatch, glides up 

 and down the stems of trees ; but so far from having a bill 

 strong enough to crack a nut, it is so feeble that the shell of 

 a beetle's wing would resist its powers ; but it is admirably 

 adapted for its mode of life. The little Tree-Creeper looks 

 more like a mouse than a bird, as it runs in silence up and 

 down a bough in search of minute insects ; and so beneficial 

 has it been found in ridding trees of noxious insects, that in 

 America, where it seems to be more abundant than with us, 

 a box is placed at the top of a long pole, to entice it to build 

 in gardens, where it makes itself a very welcome guest. 



The Bee-Eaters are so rarely seen in England, as scarcely 

 to be considered British birds ; but when once seen, can 

 never be mistaken or forgotten, brilliant as they are with 

 blue and green of various shades, tinged by beautifully 

 reflected lights. As its name implies, it lives chiefly upon 

 bees, which it catches on the wing. 



The Hoopoe is another elegant bird, very scarce, but not 

 quite so rare as the Bee-Eater. One was not long ago caught 

 on Salisbury Plain, in a weak and exhausted state ; it must 

 have come from a distance, as its beak was filled with red 

 clay, of a quality not found in that neighbourhood. If 

 fatigued from the journey it had performed, the distance must 

 have been very great ; for one approached a vessel in the 

 middle of the Atlantic, and kept company with it a good way, 

 but did not settle on board, which it probably would have 

 done had it been tired. 



It is common in some parts of the Continent, and by no 



