AVAL!- CllEEl'ER. 
1 ()() 
a 2 '^oint (Vajjjmi like its congeneric species, but goes 
Avitli a loAV spring from one rough spot to another, 
until it gets to the top, Avhen it flies clown again, and 
so on for a whole day. It "is not seen on the ground. 
Naumann tells us the Wall Creeper is unsociable and 
quarrelsome Avith its kind, and hence it is ahvays soli- 
tary. Even the young separate early. The call-note is 
said to be similar to the Bullfinch, and it has also a 
shorter note Avhen running up the Avails, in Avhich the 
short strophe di, didi, zaa, is often kept up with very 
little variation. Both male and female sing, and during 
the performance they raise their bodies, and move their 
Avings and tail, or flutter them upon the rocks. 
It feeds on insects and their larvae and eggs, spiders, 
ants, etc., all of which it pokes out of the crevices 
with its long curved beak. 
It builds in high places which are very difficult to 
get at — in chinks of barren rocks, or in the holes of 
Avails and old buildings or toAvers. Little indeed was 
knoAvn about the nidification of this bird until about 
ten years ago, when Nager-Donaziane, of Unsen-Thale, 
discovered the nest and eggs, and supplied his friends 
Avith specimens, of which a true description was first 
given by the Baron V. Konig, in “Cabanis’ Journal 
fur Ornithologie,” for 1855. The nest is built of an 
underlayer of soft dry stalks, mixed Avith moss, hair, 
soft feathers, and avooI, and is lined Avith animals’ hair. 
It lays from three to five eggs in June, AAdiich are 
either pear-shaped or more generally OAml. The shell 
is slightly shining Avhite, Avith small red or flesh-coloured 
spots and dots, AAdiich are most numerous at the larger 
end. They are about the same size as those of the 
d^^ryneck. 
The male in breeding plumage has the top of the 
