NATURAL HISTORY. 237 



sometimes covered on the outside with mosses and lichens. 

 Waterton relates a curious formation of the nest of one par- 

 ticular species, whose habitations are built at the extremity of 

 thin branches. 



" Instinct teaches one species, which builds its nest on the 

 slender branches which hang over the rivers, to make a rim 

 round the mouth of the nest, turned inwards, so as to prevent 

 the eggs from rolling out. . . The trees on the river's bank are 

 particularly exposed to violent gusts of wind, and when I have 

 been sitting in the canoe and looking on, I have seen the 

 slender branch of the tree which held the Humming-bird's nest 

 so violently shaken, that the bottom of the inside of the nest has 

 appeared, and had there been nothing at the rim to stop the 

 eggs, they must inevitably have been jerked out into the water." 



Family III. . . Certhidje. (Gr. KepOiof. reeper kind.) 

 Sub-family a. Certhince. 



Familiar-is (Lat. familiar), the Creeper. 



The CREEPERS are remarkable for their long slender bills 

 and claws, adapted for climbing trees, and capturing insects. 

 The common Creeper may often be seen in this country, run- 

 ning spirally up the trunks of trees, and probing the baric 

 with its bill, and so firrnlv do the claws hold, that when shot 



