CLIMACTERIS PICUMNUS, Temm. 
White-throated Tree-Creeper. 
Certhia pictmnus, 111. 
Climacteris picumnus, Temm. PI. Col. 281. fig. 1. — Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 295. 
New Holland Nuthatch, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 78. 
Barred-tailed Honey -eater, lb. p. 179. ? 
Certhia leucoptera, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxxvi. ? 
Le Dirigang, Vieill. Ois. Dor., tom. ii. p. 127. ? 
Dirigang Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 106. ? — Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 260. ? 
Dirigang Honey-eater and var. A., Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 182 — 183. ? 
The Common Creeper, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pi. 25. 
The range of this species is as widely extended as that of the Climacteris scandens, being a common bird in 
New South Wales and the intervening country, as far as South Australia : the precise limits of its habitat 
northward have not been ascertained ; but it does not form part of the Fauna of Western Australia. 
The whole structure of this species is much more slender and Certhia-Y\ke. than any other member of its 
genus, and I observed that this difference of form has a corresponding influence over its habits, which are 
more strictly arboreal than those of its congeners ; indeed so much so, that it is questionable whether the 
bird ever descends to the ground. It also differs from the C. scandens in the character of country and 
kind of trees it inhabits, being rarely seen on the large Eucalypti in the open forest lands, but resorting 
to trees bordering creeks, as well as those on the mountains and the brushes. I have frequently seen 
it in the brushes of Illawarra and Maitland, in which localities the C. scandens is seldom if ever found. 
While traversing the trunks of trees in search of insects, which it does with great facility, it utters a 
shrill piping cry : in this cry, and indeed in the whole of its actions, it strikingly reminded me of the 
Common Creeper of Europe ( Certhia familiaris ), particularly in its manner of ascending the upright 
trunks of the trees, commencing at the bottom and gradually creeping up the bole to the top, and generally 
in a spiral direction. It is so partial to the Casuarince, that I have seldom seen a group of these trees 
without at the same time observing the White-throated Tree-Creeper, the rough hark affording numerous 
receptacles for various kinds of insects, which constitute its sole diet. I have never seen this species near 
the water-holes, and I feel assured it has the power of subsisting without drinking. 
The breeding-season is in September and the three following months. The nest is built of grasses, is 
warmly lined with feathers, and is placed in the hollow branch or bole of a tree. The eggs are three in 
number, of a dull white thinly speckled with fine spots of rich brown, and a few larger blotches of the same 
colour ; they are ten lines long by eight lines broad. 
Crown of the head and back of the neck sooty black ; back olive-brown ; wings dark brown, all the 
primaries and secondaries crossed in the centre by a dull buff-coloured band ; throat and centre of the 
abdomen white, the latter tinged with buff ; feathers of the flanks brownish black, with a broad stripe of 
dull white down the centre ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey ; under tail-coverts white, crossed by 
several bands of black, each of which being separated on the stem appear like a double spot ; tail greyish 
brown, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip ; bill black ; the under mandible horn-colour at the 
base ; feet blackish brown. 
The female is precisely the same in colour, with the exception of having a small orange-coloured spot just 
below the ear-coverts, and by which she is at once distinguished from her mate. 
The figures are those of a male and female of the natural size. 
