BUNTING— CREEPER. 193 



The Creeper ( 2i ) of modest demeanour was there ; 

 Yet he seem'd for the throng very little to care. 



to New York to feed on the young Indian corn ; sings well. See 

 the Introduction. 



Several other Buntings are found in this country ; I can 

 merely name them. The Cirlus, or Cirl-Bunting ; — the 

 Chlorocephala, or Green-headed Bunting ; — the Montana, 

 Mountain-Bunting, Lesser- Mountain-Finch, or Brambling ;■— 

 and the Mustelina, Tawny-Bunting, Great-Pied- Mountain- 

 Finch, Sea-Lark, or Brambling. This last is rarely met with in 

 England. — For an account of another curious bird of this tribe, 

 the Cow Bunting, or Cowpen f see Part II. 



( 21 ) Order, Pic^e, (Linn.) Creeper, the Common, 

 the Mocking. 



The genus Certhia, (Linn.) or Creeper, consists of about 

 one hundred species, dispersed through most of the countries of 

 the globe; they feed chiefly on insects, in search of which they 

 creep up and down trees ; they breed in hollow trees, and lay 

 numerous eggs ; bill arched, slender, somewhat triangular, 

 pointed ; feet formed for walking ; claws hooked and long. The 

 two following are the chief. 



The Familiaris, Common Creeper, Tree-Creeper, or Tree- 

 Climber, the only species of the genns found in England, is five 

 inches long, has the back, rump, and scapulars, inclining to 

 tawny, beneath white ; quill feathers brown; it runs with won- 

 derful facility above or under the branches of trees. Another 

 variety, differing only in being larger. Eggs from six to eight, 

 white, minutely speckled with bright rust colour. During in- 

 cubation the female is fed by the male. 



The Sannis, or Mocking Creeper, inhabits New Zealand ; 

 seven and a quarter inches long ; imitates the voice and notes of 

 other birds with surprising accuracy, whence its name. 



K 



