WALL CREEPER. 74 



highest Alps in the Tyrol. It occurs also in Bohemia and Silesia, 

 and is included by Count Miihle among the birds of Greece, and 

 hence it ranges to India, being mentioned by Dr. Leith Adams as 

 occurring in Cashmere, by the sides of rivers and streams in rocky 

 and precipitous places. 



It does not appear ever in flocks anywhere, being generally found 

 solitary or in pairs. When the rough weather of autumn sets in, it 

 is driven from the high mountains, and appears about the valleys 

 and mountain towns during the winter months. In the spring it 

 again gradually mounts up until it settles for breeding purposes among 

 the highest rocks of the mountain top. 



Wherever it is seen, whether in mountain, or valley, or town, it is 

 always found among rocks, running up and down their perpendicular 

 faces, and peering into every nook, cranny, or cleft for its insect 

 food. 



In its habits the Wall very much resembles the Tree Creeper, 

 being lively, restless, and shy on the approach of man. It clings 

 with great tenacity to perpendicular or horizontal rocks. It runs 

 upwards with great dexterity, but does not, like the Woodpecker, 

 run downwards. After a short rest it flies down from the top of 

 even the highest towers, and then re-commences its upward ramble. 

 It does not appear to use its tail as a point d'appui like its congeneric 

 species, but goes with a low spring from one rough spot to another, 

 until it gets to the top, when it flies down again, and so on for a 

 whole day. It is not seen on the ground. 



Nainnann tells us the Wall Creeper is unsociable and quarrelsome 

 with its kind, and hence it is always solitary. Even the young sepa- 

 rate early. The call-note is said to be similar to the Bullfinch, and 

 it has also a shorter note when running up the walls, in which the 

 short strope di, didi, zaa, is often kept up with very little variation. 

 Both male and female sing, and during the performance they raise 

 their bodies, and move their wings and tail, or flutter them upon the 

 rocks. 



It feeds on insects and their larva? and eggs, spiders, ants, etc., all 

 of which it pokes out of the crevices with its long curved beak. 



It builds in high places which are very difficult to get at — in 

 chinks of barren rocks, or in the holes of walls and old buildings or 

 towers. Little indeed was known about the nidification of this bird 

 until about ten years ago, when Nager-Donazian, of Unsen-Thale, 

 discovered the nest and eggs, and supplied his friends with specimens, 

 of which a true description was first given by the Baron von Konig, 

 in "Cabanis' Journal fur Ornithologie," for 1855. The nest is built 



