50 WALL CREEPER. 



"I received on the 12th. of November, 1864, a letter from St. 

 Gall announcing the death of the poor bird. It caught cold during 

 two consecutive nights when the thermometer was three or four 

 degrees below zero, which brought on effusion into the chest, of 

 which it died on October 13th., 1864. M. Girtanner remarked, that 

 if this bird succumbed to a less cold temperature than that which 

 it often bears in freedom in the Alps, the reason was that it had 

 not sufficient room to take exercise., but also that it could not find 

 in its cage, which was hung in the open air, crevices sufficiently deep 

 to furnish it either with a shelter from the air or a medium tempe- 

 rature more comfortable." 



Director Surgeon-General Stewart informs me that this bird is 

 found in the Himalayas at all seasons, but is by no means a com- 

 mon bird. It is a winter visitant to the Punjaub. "I noticed a 

 pair of them scrambling about the mud walls of some huts on the 

 field of Goojerat, February 21st., 1849, and apparently they were not 

 in the least disconcerted by the furious cannonade going on then 

 and there. I may mention also that at the battle of Chillianwalla, 

 January 13th. of the same year, I saw numbers of Turdus atrogularis 

 flying here and there amongst the thickest jungle of that field, but 

 they did not seem to enjoy the firing much." 



Salvadori ("Fauna d' Italia") says of this bird: — "Found in Italy 

 on the tops of the Alps and Apennines, and also on the mountains 

 of Sardinia and Sicily, where, however, it appears to be rare. Not 

 found in Malta. It comes down from the mountains in winter, and 

 then it is not rarely seen in the plains. It frequents the walls of 

 cities and old castles. A pair were once seen on the walls of the 

 Palace of Science, in Turin, for some days. It feeds upon insects 

 and spiders, which it searches for in the chinks and clefts of rocks 

 and walls." 



The male in breeding plumage has the top of the head, rump, 

 and under tail coverts, blackish grey; nape and back grey; cheeks, 

 throat, and front of neck deep black; abdomen black; the under tail 

 coverts tipped with white; wing coverts and basal half of the external 

 web of the wing feathers of a deep crimson; the rest of the feathers 

 blackish brown, with two large round spots on the internal web of 

 the first four true primaries, and one on the fifth. Secondaries tipped 

 with white; tail black, with the two most external quills broadly 

 terminated with white, and the others more narrowly with grey. 

 Beak, feet, and iris, black. 



The male in autumn and winter is of a distinct grey above, with 

 a slight russet colour on the head; the throat and chest white, 



