TICHODROMATROGLOD YTES 1 9 5 



crimson ; tail black tipped with grey and white ; under parts slate-grey, 

 the throat and upper breast deep black ; bill curved, it and legs black ; iris 

 brown. Culmen 1*25, wing 3'85, tail 2'3, tarsus 0'9 inch. The female is 

 clearer grey and has less black on the throat. In winter both sexes have 

 the upper parts clearer grey and the throat is white, not black. The young 

 resemble the adult in winter dress but are duller and have the bill shorter 

 and quite straight. 



Hob. The alpine regions of Central and South Europe, Asia 

 and North Africa ; a rare straggler to Great Britain. 



Frequents the faces of rocks and precipices, flitting and creep- 

 ing about them as the Creeper does the trunks and branches of 

 trees in search of its insect-food, and, like that bird, is active and 

 continually on the move with a side-long, crab-like motion, ex- 

 panding and closing its wings like a large butterfly. As a rule it 

 is wild and shy, and by no means easy to secure. Its call-note is 

 said to be not unlike that of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 

 resembling the syllables pli-pli-pli-pli, and its Creeper-like song 

 consists of several short, loud, melodious strophes in which the 

 notes di didi zdct are frequently repeated with variations. 

 During the summer it frequents the mountains at considerable 

 altitudes, descending into the valleys on the approach of winter. 

 It breeds in the crannies and fissures of rocks, the nest being a 

 mass of moss, hair, wool, &c., like a large Tree-Creeper's nest, 

 and the eggs, 3 or 4 in number, are white, finely dotted with 

 brownish red, oval in shape, and measure about 0*8 by 0'6. 

 They are usually deposited early in June. 



TROGLODYTES, Cuv. 5 1817. 



290. WREN. 

 TROGLODYTES PARVULUS. 



Troglodytes parvulus, Koch, Baier. Zool. i. p. 161 (1816) ; Naum. iii. 

 p. 725, Taf. 83, fig. 4 ; Dresser, iii, p. 219, pi. 124, fig. 1 Newton, 

 i. p. 460 ; Saunders, p. 115 ; Lilford, ii. p. 120, pi. 54 ; Baedeker, 

 Eier, Eur. Vog. Taf. 43, fig. 1 (eggs) ; T. europceus, (Vieill.) Gould, 

 B. of E. ii. pi. 130 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 63 ; Anorthura 

 troglodytes, (L.) Macg. iii. p. 15 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. 

 p. 269. 



E&itelet, French ; Carricinka das moitas, Portug. ; Curito, 

 Hatilla, Span. ; Re di macchia, Ital. ; Zaurikonig, German ; 

 Winterkoning, Dutch ; Gjerdesmutte, Dan. ; Gjerdevippe, Norweg.; 

 Gardsmyg, Swed. ; Peukaloinen, Finn. ; Krapivnik. Russ. 



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