"1 



catcher. I find he had not seen it in England. It is 

 very beautifully coloured, though the chief is cinereous ; 

 but the shades of red on the wings, and the large spots 

 of white and yellow on the quill-feathers, are uncommonly 

 pleasing. You see Wilughby does not mention them." 

 With reference to the second occurrence, I quote from 

 ' The Birds of Lancashire ' by Mr. F. S. Mitchell, who, 

 at p. 56 of his work, informs us that one of this species 

 was shot at Sabden, a village at the foot of Pendle Hill, 

 on May 8, 1872 ; it was too much mangled to allow 

 of the determination of its sex, but was preserved by 

 Mr. W. Naylor of Whalley, and is now in Mr. Mitchell's 

 possession. 



To make the acquaintance of this species in its 

 native haunts during the summer months, we must 

 visit limestone-cliffs at a considerable height above the 

 sea. My own acquaintance with the Wall-Creeper was 

 first formed high up in the Italian Alps during the 

 month of August ; I found it in small family-partieSj 

 generally frequenting precipitous faces of rock ; the birds 

 examine every nook and crevice, not, as in the case of 

 the Woodpeckers, by continuous climbing, but by a 

 series of short hops in some degrees resembling the 

 method of progression of the Nuthatch : the birds thus 

 observed by me appeared to be perfectly fearless of man, 

 probably from their small acquaintance with him, and 

 permitted of a very close observation of their habits ; 

 they seemed to find abundant food in the crannies and 

 small fissures of the limestone upon which I could hardly 

 bear my hand in the full blaze of noon ; after carefully 

 examining one of these localities the bird would flit with 



