THE TKEE-CBEEPEKS 361 



The Striated Tree-runner. 



N. striata. 



North and North-east Australia. 



Head all round, sides of neek, throat and upper breast all black; hind 

 neck, mantle, scapulars and back greyish-brown, each feather with a 

 broad blackish-brown shaft streak; wings brown above with large white 

 patch; breast, tlanks and abdomen white, each feather with broad dark- 

 brown longitudinal streak. Otherwise like N. leucoptera. 



Another form, X. magnirostris. has been described from 

 Mt. Elliot, inland from Townsville. It is closely allied to 

 N. striata, but differs from that bird in its generall.y larger size 

 and especially the longer and more massive bill, the eulmen 

 being 0.63 inch, as compared with 0.53 inch, wing 3.3, tail 1.5. 

 tarsus 0.7. 



Family Certhiida'. 

 Bill slender, generally longer than the rest of the head, 

 curved downwards ; eulmen keeled, without tooth or notch at 

 tip. Nostrils basal, longitudinal, operculated, exposed, without 

 bristles. Hallux, with its claw longer than the longest toe ; 

 claws, especially the hind claw, long, much curved and very 

 sharp. Plain coloured. Insectivorous. All over the world, 

 except South America, New Zealand and Madagascar. 



Genus Glimacteris. 

 Tail square, soft, shorter than wing. Tarsus covered in front 

 with one long scutum. Brown and frequently spotted. Tree- 

 creepers. Australia, New Guinea, with one species in the 

 Philippines. In all the Australian forms there is a fawn- 

 coloured band across the wing. 



Key to the Species. 



1. All the upper parts uniform brownish blarlf. 



Throat black, with white lanceolate stripes. 0. melanura. 



Throat dull white, without stripes. C. melanonota. 



Underparts chestnut. C. wellsi. 



2. Mantle olive-brown or red-brown. 



a. Central pair of tail-feathers, lower back and upper 



tail-coverts olive-brown. 

 Under surface rusty-red, flanks without stripes. C. rufa. 



Under surface pale buff or fawn, much striated. C. picumna. 



b. Central pair of tail-feathers dark grey. 



Orbital region brown ; whole fore neck white. C. scandens. 

 Orbital region rich rusty red ; dull buff crescent 



across upper chest. C. erythrops. 



Orbital region white. C. superciliosa. 



