BRITISH BIRDS. 287 



THE CREEPER. 



(Ccrtliia Familiarise Linn. Griinpcrcaii faniilicr, 

 Temm. v 



LENGTH live inches and half; the body is about 

 the size of that of the Wren. The bill is long, 

 slender, and curved, the upper mandible brown, 

 the lower whitish; eyes hazel; the "head, neck, 

 back, and wing coverts are dark brown, variegated 

 with streaks of a lighter hue; the throat, breast, 

 and belly silvery white; rump tawny; the quills 

 are dusky, edged with tawny, and marked with 

 bars of the same; tips white; above each eye a 

 small dark line passes towards the neck, above 

 which there is a line of white: the tail is long, 

 and consists of twelve stiff brownish feathers, 

 pointed and forked at the end; the legs are short, 

 and brown; claws long, sharp, and much hooked, 

 by which it is enabled to run with great facility 

 on all sides of small branches of trees in quest of 



