CREEPERS. 



437 



Passing by the tree-creepers (Certhia), in which the tail is composed 

 of stiff' feathers, and also the Indian spotted -grey creeper (Salpomis), re- 

 markable for building an open cup-shaped nest upon a branch, and in which the 

 tad-feathers are soft, we select for special notice the wall-creeper, 

 wan-creeper. The beautiful creeper (Tichodroma muraria), which alone 



represents the genus, passes its entire existence in traversing the 

 surfaces of precipices in pursuit of the spiders and flies constituting its food. 



THE WALL-CREEPEH {', liat. size). 



Hence the bill is long, slender, and almost straight, adapted for probing interstices 

 and cracks, such as usually constitute the haunts of its prey. The wing is laro- e 

 and rounded, like that of a butterfly, thus affording an easy support as the bird 

 hall flies, hall flits about the mural precipices in which it makes its home: the tail 

 is slightly rounded, and composed of twelve feathers; the metatarsus is smooth, 

 and the claws are sharp and curved. Residing in the mountain-ranges of Kurope' 

 and ranging eastwards into Central Asia, the wall-creeper is found throughout the 



