BROWN CREEPER. 1 23 



times, great numbers of these birds, and have endeavoured to 

 make a correct drawing of the male, that Europeans and 

 others may judge for themselves ; and the excellent artist to 

 whom the plate was entrusted has clone his part so well in the 

 engraving, as to render the figure a perfect resemblance of the 

 living original. 



The brown creeper is an extremely active and restless little 

 bird. In winter it associates with the small spotted wood- 

 pecker, nuthatch, titmouse, &c. ; and often follows in their 

 rear, gleaning up those insects which their more powerful 

 bills had alarmed and exposed ; for its own slender incurvated 

 bill seems unequal to the task of penetrating into even the 

 decayed wood ; though it may into holes, and behind scales 

 of the bark. Of the titmouse, there are generally present the 

 individuals of a whole family, and seldom more than one or 

 two of the others. As the party advances through the woods 

 from tree to tree, our little gleaner seems to observe a good 



food draws them from their woody solitudes nearer to the habitations of 

 man. It is often said to be rare, an opinion no doubt arising from the 

 difficulty of seeing it, and from its solitary and unassuming manners. A 

 short quotation from a late author will best explain our meaning, and 

 confirm the account of its manners, so correctly described above. " A 

 retired inhabitant of the woods and groves, and not in any way conspi- 

 cuous for voice or plumage, it passes its days with us, creating scarcely 

 any notice or attention. Its small size, and the manner in which it 

 procures its food, both tend to secret him from sight. In these pursuits 

 its actions are more like those of a mouse than of a bird, darting like a 

 great moth from tree to tree, uttering a faint trilling sound as it fixes on 

 their boles, running round them in a spiral direction, when, with re- 

 peated wriggles, having gained the summit, it darts to the base of another, 

 and commences again." 



The present species will form the type and only individual yet dis- 

 covered of the genus Certhia. The other birds described by our author 

 as Certhice will all rank elsewhere ; and the groups now known under 

 the titles Ginyris, Nectarinia, &c, which were formerly included, making 

 it of great extent, and certainly of very varied forms, will also with pro- 

 priety hold their separate stations. The solitary type ranges in Europe, 

 according to Pennant, as far north as Kussia and Siberia, and Sandmore 

 in Sweden. In North America it will extend nearly over the whole 

 continent. — Ed. 



