™> CREEPER. Class II. 



claws very long, to enable it to creep up and 

 down the bodies of trees in search of insects, 

 which are its food. It breeds in hollow trees, 

 and is said to lay sometimes twenty eggs, but 

 they are rarely more than eight in number, of a 

 white color minutely dotted with bright ferrugi- 

 nous, and the shell rather hard. The nest loosely 

 made of dry grass, lined with small feathers, is 

 placed in the hollow of decayed trees. The 

 head and upper part of the neck are brown, 

 streaked with black ; the rump is tawny ; the 

 coverts of the wings are variegated with brown 

 and black; the quil feathers dusky, tipt with 

 white, and edged and barred with tawny marks; 

 the breast and belly are of a silvery white. The 

 tail is very long, and consists of twelve stiff fea- 

 thers, notwithstanding Mr. Willughby and other 

 ornithologists give it but ten ; they are of a 

 tawny hue, and the interior ends of each slope 

 off to a point. 



Migrates in Italy in September and October. 



" Is found in various parts of Germany and 

 elsewhere on the continent, and is also said to 

 inhabit North America" J. L. 



