518 BRITISH BIRDS. 



TICHODROMA MURARIA. 

 WALL-CREEPER, 



(PLATE 18.) 



Certhia muralis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 607 (1760). 



Certhia muraria, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 184 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Gmelin, Latham (Deyland), Gerbe, (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Dresser), &c. 

 Tichodroma muraria (Linn.}, llluj. Pi'odr. p. 210 (1811). 

 Petrodroma muraria (Linn.), Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 106 (1 818). 

 Tichodroma phoenicoptera, Temm. Man.cTOrn. i. p. 412 (1820). 

 Ticliodroma europaea, Stcph. Shmtfs Gen. Zool. xiv. pt. i. p. 187 (1826). 

 Tichodroma phcenicoptera, Temm., v. subhemalayana, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Misc. 



p. 82 (1844). 



Ticliodroma nepaleusis, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 225 (1850). 

 Tichodroma rnuralis (Briss.), David fy Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 88 (1877). 



From the evidence to be obtained bearing upon the subject, there can 

 be little doubt that this charming bird has a remote claim to be included 

 with the species that occasionally wander from their natural habitat to our 

 islands. So long ago as 1676 Willughby and Ray stated that the bird was 

 said to have occurred in this country ; but as their evidence was not from 

 personal observation, or from that of any specified authority, it must be 

 accepted with doubt. However, as stated by Mr. Bell (' Zoologist/ 1875, 

 p. 4664), Mr. Marsham, of Stratton Hall, in Hampshire, an accurate and 

 observant naturalist and a Fellow of the Royal Society, in a letter to his 

 correspondent, Gilbert White, dated October 30, 1792, writes :- -" My man 

 has just now shot me a bird which was flying about my house. I am 

 confident I have never seen its likeness before. But on application to 

 Willughby I conclude it is the Wall-Creeper or Spider-catcher. I find he 

 had not seen it in England. It is very beautifully coloured, though the 

 chief is cinereous ; but the shades of red on the wings, and the large 

 spots of white and yellow on the quill-feathers are uncommonly pleasing." 

 In the ' Zoologist 7 for 1876 (p. 4839) a second specimen is recorded from 

 Lancashire by Mr. F. S. Mitchell. He writes : " On the 8th of May, 

 1872, a fine specimen of this continental species was shot at Sabden, a 

 village a few miles from here, at the foot of Pendle Hill ; and as I am not 

 aware of its ever having been noticed before in this country, I send below 

 the particulars. It was seen flying about by itself its bright colours 

 drawing the attention of a lot of mill-hands did not appear to have a 

 mate, and was at length shot by a man named Edward Laycock, who took 

 it to Mr. W. Naylor, of Whalley, an accomplished naturalist, and who has 

 for many years been President of the Accrington Naturalists' Society. 



