Honey Creepers 807 



the throat and breast change to deep black. The Wall Creeper is a wild, shy 

 bird, frequenting the face of rocks and precipices, usually at considerable altitudes 

 during the summer, but descending into the valleys in the winter. It flits and 

 creeps actively about the rocks, seeking its food of insects and spiders, and has 

 a habit of constantly expanding its beautiful wings. Its call note resembles 

 that of certain Woodpeckers, but its most characteristic song consists of several 

 short, melodious notes frequently repeated. It breeds in the crevices of rocks, 

 building a nest of moss, grass, hair, wool, etc., wherein it deposits three or four 

 white eggs which are finely dotted with reddish. 



Brown Tree Creepers. Widely distributed throughout Australia and extend- 

 ing into northwestern New Guinea is Climacferis, a genus of large grayish olive 

 or brown Tree Creepers, with a bill only slightly longer than the head and the 

 claws shorter than the hind toe ; they are also marked by the presence of a fawn- 

 colored band across the wings. Of the habits of the Brown Tree Creeper 

 (C. scandens), Mr. Gould says: "It gives a decided preference to the open, 

 thinly timbered forests of eucalypti, the bark of which, being rough and uneven, 

 affords numerous retreats for various tribes of insects; its food, however, is not 

 only sought for upon the boles and branches of the trees, but is obtained by 

 penetrating the decayed and hollow parts; and it even dives into the small 

 hollow spouts of the branches in search of spiders and other insects; although 

 its form would lead to a contrary supposition, it spends much of its time on the 

 ground, under the canopy and near the boles of the larger trees, in a similar 

 pursuit, and also traverses the fallen trunks with a keen and scrutinizing eye. 

 While on the ground it has a pert, lively action^ passing over the surface in a suc- 

 cession of -quick shuffling hops, carrying the head erect, with the feathers puffed 

 out, almost in the form of a crest. It flies with a skimming motion of the wings, 

 during which the brown marking of the wing is very conspicuous, and it has a 

 sharp, piercing cry, which is frequently uttered, especially if the tree upon which 

 it is climbing be approached." The nest is placed deep down in a hollow branch 

 and composed of hair, usually that of the opossum; the eggs are two or three 

 in number. Three Philippine species have been separated as the genus Rhab- 

 dornis, largely on the ground that there is no light-colored band across the wings. 



THE HONEY CREEPERS 



(Family Cozrebida) 



The Honey Creepers, or Guit-Guits, as they are sometimes called, are small, 

 typical, nine-primaried oscinine birds, with slender, acute or slightly hooked 

 bills, and a deeply incised (bifid or trifid) tongue which is fringed or bushy at 

 the tip, the latter, as will be shown, an adaptation to their mode of life. They 

 have wings of moderate length though rather pointed, and the second, third, 

 and fourth primaries usually nearly equal and largest. The tail is much shorter 

 than the wing and variously shaped. 



