CREEPER. 213 



autumn ; in flight, it is vague, and uncertain, and climbs by leaps ; 

 frequents ruined edifices, old walls, or clefts of rocks, and making 

 the nest in holes therein, or in the hollow of some decayed tree. 

 Kramer, and others observe, that it has been known to form the 

 nest in human skulls in church yards, but probably this happened 

 rather by accident than choice. 



M. Temminck forms a Genus out of this single Species, by the 

 name of Tichodrome. 



3 —VIOLET-HEADED CREEPER. 



Certhia violacea, Ind. Orii.i. 287. Lin.'u 188. Id. Mant. 1771. p. 525. Gm.Lin. i. 422. 



Certhia longicauda minor Cap. B. Spei, Bris. iii. 649. t. 33. 6. Id. 8vo. ii. 15. 



Certhia chalybeata, Spalowsck. Vog. i. t. 10. 



Soui-manga a longue Queue, et Capuchon violet, Buf. v. 517. Ois. dor. ii. 61. pi. 39. 



Petit Grimpereau a longue Queue, du Cap, PL enl. 670. 2. 



Le Sucrier orange, Levail. Af. 6. 152. pi. 292. f. 1. 2. 



Saffron Creeper, Nat. Misc. pi. 210. 



Violet-headed Creeper, Gen. Syn. ii. 718. Shaw's Zool. viii. 211. pi. 30, 



SIZE a little bigger than the Common Creeper ; length six 

 inches. Bill near one inch, and black ; head, neck, upper part of 

 the back, scapulars, and lesser wing coverts bright violet, appearing 

 green in some lights, but on the fore part of the neck inclining to 

 blue ; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail coverts olive- 

 brown ; breast, belly, and under tail coverts bright orange, paler 

 near the vent ; sides of the body orange, with a mixture of olive ; 

 greater coverts brown, edged with olive ; at the setting on of the 

 wing two yellow tufts; quills nearly the same as the greater coverts; 

 tail blackish brown, margined with olive ; shape cuneiform, the two 

 middle feathers longer than the rest by one inch, being three inches 

 in length ; the outer only one inch and a half; legs blackish. 



