THE CRIMSON-WINGED CREEPERS. 123 



concealed and hidden. The nest is generally somewhat rough, 

 composed of moss and small roots, with a good many chips 

 of dead wood. 



Mr. Seebohm, however, calls it a handsome little structure, 

 and says that " there is a rustic beauty about a Creeper's nest 

 which few others possess. The crevice behind the bark which 

 the bird usually selects is often too large for the nest itself; 

 and the superfluous space is filled up with a quantity of fine 

 twigs, chiefly of beech and birch. Round the edge of the nest 

 is artfully woven a series of the finest twigs ; and the lining is 

 made of roots, grass, moss, and sometimes feathers. But the 

 chief characteristic of the Creeper's nest is the lining of fine 

 strips of inside bark which is almost invariably there." 



Eggs. Four to six in number. Ground colour either pure 

 white or reddish-white, the markings varying with the ground- 

 colour of the two different sty!es of egg. Where the egg is 

 creamy- or reddish-white, the spots are decidedly rufous 

 character, with a tendency to cluster round the large end. In 

 the whiter eggs, the spots vary from reddish-brown to blackish, 

 with underlying spots of grey, not easily distinguishable from 

 the overlying spots. Axis, 0*65 inch; diam., 0*5. 



THE CRIMSON-WINGED CREEPERS. GENUS TICHODROMA. 



Tichodroma, 111. Prod., p. 211 (1810). 



Type, T. muraria (Linn.). 



The present genus holds an intermediate position between 

 the Tree- Creepers and the Nuthatches. Like the former, it has 

 a curved and slender bill, and a powerful head ; but like the 

 Nuthatches it has a soft tail, a grey upper plumage, and it shares 

 with the Nuthatches the character of the white spots on the 

 outer tail-feathers. 



There is only one species of the genus Tichodroma^ the 

 range of which is given below. 



I. THE WALL-CREEPER. TICHODROMA MURARIA. 



Certhia muraria^ Linn., S. N., i., p. 184 (1766). 

 Tichodroma muraria^ Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 207, pi. 123 

 (1871); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 46 (1883); Gadow, Cat. 





