INSESSORES. CERTHIA. 387 



Genus CERTHIA, Illiger. CREEPER. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill of mean length, curved, triangular, compressed, 

 slender and sharp-pointed. Tongue short. Nostrils basal, 

 pierced horizontally, naked, and partly covered by an arched 

 membrane. 



Feet with three toes before and one behind, which last 

 is strong, and longer than the middle toe. The outer toe 

 united at its base to the middle one. Tail wedge-shaped, 

 composed of twelve stiff, sharp-pointed, and deflected feathers. 

 Wings having the first quill short, and the second and third 

 shorter than the fourth;^ which is the longest of all. 



The genus Certhia, as now formed by Illiger, contains 

 only such species as exhibit the essential generic characters 

 above given : the other numerous species, classed by La- 

 tham, Gmelin, and other naturalists in their genus Certhia, 

 being now separated, and arranged under the genera Caereba, 

 Nectarinia, Climacteris, &c. 



Creepers scale trees in the same manner as Woodpeckers, 

 and, like them, are supported behind by their stiff deflected 

 tail. They are insectivorous. The plumage is similar in both 

 sexes. Europe furnishes but one species. 



B b 2 



