210 CREEPER. 



interior ends of which slope off to a point; the outer one two inches 

 long, the two middle two inches and a half; the legs and claws grey. 



The female is less bright in all its markings, only the chin silvery 

 white, the rest of the under parts have a dusky tinge, and the vent 

 still deeper. 



The Creeper is found in most parts of Europe, and we think no 

 where more common than in England, remaining at all seasons, 

 though rarely seen by the less attentive observer ; for when on the 

 branch, or body of a tree, on seeing any person, the bird continually 

 shifts to the opposite side, so as to be out of sight of any one walking 

 round it. The facility of running on the bark in all directions is 

 wonderful, appearing to do this with as much ease as a fly on a glass 

 window. The food is chiefly insects, which it finds in the chinks, 

 and among the moss : it makes the nest either in a hole, or behind 

 the bark of some decayed tree, composed of dry grass, and the inner 

 bark of wood, loosely put together, and lined with feathers ; the eggs 

 generally eight in number, weighing about eighteen grains ; colour 

 white, minutely dotted with bright ferruginous, and the shell rather 

 hard. The bird has no song, but a kind of weak, monotonous note, 

 several times repeated in a deliberate manner. Bechstein compares 

 it to the words zich, zich, zich ; and observes, that it is nearly silent 

 except in spring and summer ; is very common in Germany, espe- 

 cially in Thuringia ; found, though rarely, in the forests of Russia 

 and Siberia; but constant in Sweden, and extends as far as Sondmor. 

 We have observed it in drawings from India, and is found also in 

 America,* having been sent from thence by Mr, Abbot, of Savanna 

 in Georgia. General Davies also met with it in Canada. 



* Certhia rufa, little brown and varied Creeper, Bartr. Trav. 287 ? 



