WALL CREEPER. 49 



emitting from time to time feeble flute-like sounds, it seeks for all 

 the small insects which repose in the crevices of the rock. In 

 ascending it so disposes its wings that the remige raised behind can 

 always strike the inferior column of air, and raise it without an 

 effort; its feet seem then to be only designed to conduct it along its 

 path, and maintain it on the surface. 



"The Tichodrome is so good a climber that there is not a surface 

 too polished for it to mount — only the greater the difficulty, the 

 quicker is the wing movement. From time to time it quits a spot 

 to fly like a butterfly towards some other spot on the same surface; 

 at other times it lets itself fall vertically to the bottom of the rock 

 of which it has just attained the summit, and immediately recommences 

 its ascension. They are rarely seen in pairs, except at nesting time. 

 It appears to fear the society of all other birds. 



"According to Baron Konig von Warthausen there has been a great 

 deal of fable for a long time mixed up with the history of this bird's 

 habits. He mentions that Cramer says that it nests even in trees 

 and human skulls. M. D. Koenig, however, gives us an excellent 

 description of the nests and eggs. 



"M. Girtanner, now taking up his history of his own bird, explains 

 to us how the Tichodrome swallows the insects which constitute its 

 food. It cannot employ its tongue, like the Woodpeckers, by exser- 

 tion, nor can it seize its prey with the end of its beak. Furnished 

 like the Hoopoe, with feet long and slender, and a tongue which is short 

 and thick, it must, like it, after having pinched the insect and placed 

 it in a right direction, by working it from right to left, make it pro- 

 gress towards the mouth by shaking its head repeatedly backwards 

 and forwards. It cleans its beak regularly every time it has swallowed 

 a fresh insect. 



"In winter the nourishment of the Tichodrome consists of eggs and 

 larvae of insects, or even dead insects. M. Girtanner began by giving 

 his bird mealworms, of which it took seventy or eighty a day; but 

 at last he succeeded by degrees in inducing it to take ants' eggs, 

 which seem to agree with it perfectly. He was more fortunate in 

 this than Professor Spriimgly of Zurich, who was the only one who 

 had previously tried to keep one of these birds alive, and who could 

 not succeed for want of proper nourishment. The Tichodrome does 

 not like water, for the Doctor only saw his captive drink it once, 

 and then it shook itself for a long time after, as if to get rid of 

 every feeling of damp. The particular enemies of this bird are the 

 small falcons, from which, however, it often escapes by throwing itself 

 rapidly into the first crevice it can find. 



VOI,. III. H 



