ANISODACTYLI. CERTHIA. 115 
PLATE 39. Fig. 1. Natural size. 
Upper part blackish-grey. Bill with the upper mandible Gono 
blackish-grey, and the under one white at the base, rae 
Irides brown. From the posterior angle of the bill, a 
black streak proceeds, past the eye, and through the ear- 
coverts, down the sides of the neck. Chin and sides of 
the face white. Breast and belly buff-orange. Sides 
and thighs reddish-brown-orange. Under tail-coverts 
white, and deeply margined with reddish-brown. Quills 
blackish-grey. Tail composed of twelve short flexible 
feathers ; the two middle ones grey ; the four outer ones 
black, with a white spot or bar; the tip ash-grey. Legs 
yellowish-grey. The hind toe long; claws hooked, and 
large. ‘The female and the young of the year, vary but 
slightly from the above description. 
Genus XV. CREEPER. CERTHIA, Illiger. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill long, or of mean length, more or less curved, triangu- 
lar, compressed, slender and sharp-pointed. Tongue short. 
Nostrils basal, pierced horizontally, naked, and partly covered 
by an arched membrane. 
Feet with three toes before and one behind, which last is 
strong, and of some length. The cuter toe united at its base 
to the middle one. ‘Tail wedge-shaped, composed of twelve 
stiff, sharp-pointed, and deflected feathers. Wings having the 
first quill short, and the second and third shorter than the 
fourth, which is the longest of all. 
The genus Certhia, as now formed by ILiicER, contains 
only such species as exhibit the essential generic characters 
above given: the other numerous species, classed by La- 
THAM, GMELIN, and other naturalists in their genus Certhia, 
being now separated, and arranged under the genera Czreba, 
Nectarinia, Climacteris, &c. 
Creepers scale trees in the same manner as Woodpeckers, 
Hz 
