THE CREEPER 



CERTHIA FAMILIAR1S 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : u Bark-runner " 

 (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed resident in all wooded districts. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Creeper is perhaps nowhere very abundant 

 in any part of the Metropolitan area, but it is sufficiently 

 widely dispersed therein to be fairly classed as a common 

 bird in all places suited to its requirements. The bird, 

 especially during winter, pays irregular visits to the urban 

 parks where large trees are numerous. I have often 

 watched its erratic movements about the trunks of the 

 old elm-trees in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, in 

 some of the old woodland fragments still remaining about 

 Clapham and Dulwich, in the grounds of the Crystal 

 Palace, and amongst the grand old oaks at Tooting. 

 Possibly the Creeper breeds in none of these spots ; I 

 have no proof or record of the fact, but that it does so 

 within a mile or two of these localities is certain. The 

 bird breeds to my knowledge in Coombe Wood, in Rich- 

 mond Park, at Wimbledon and Osterley, in the Willesden 

 and Twyford areas, near Kingsbury and Harrow, Enfield, 

 Waltham, Epping, and Wanstead. Across the Thames 

 I have records of the species during the breeding season 

 in the area of the Crays, Bromley, Croydon, Merton, 

 Banstead, Kingston, and Epsom, but of course there are 

 numerous intermediate localities where the bird habitually 

 nests. 



It requires a sharp and practised eye to detect the 

 Creeper. Its unobtrusive ways conduce to its being over- 

 looked. It is one of the most silent of our smaller 

 birds, and it prefers to spend its life amongst the mature 



