CREEPER. 
CERTHIA FAMILIARIS. 
I cannot call to mind noticing the Creeper in Caithness or among the Hebrides. With these exceptions, 
I have found this active species scattered over the wooded portions of most of the English and Scotch 
counties from Sussex to Sutherland. 
These birds, I believe, seldom stray far from the district they frequent ; I have on hut few occasions seen 
them, unless in the vicinity of trees of considerable size or age. During autumn and winter they now and 
then join in company for a time with the flocks of various kinds of Tits that are to he seen busily engaged 
in searching for insect food through the woods and coverts. Their habit of commencing to hunt the lower 
portion of the trunk of a tree, gradually working upwards, and rapidly disappearing round the stem if 
alarmed, readily indicates the species if intermixed with other small birds. When the upper branches are 
reached they flit downwards towards the next tree they intend to search, and in this manner work their 
way through the woods. Their association with the Paridae is usually of but short duration should their 
companions be inclined to shift their quarters to any distance. I have noticed this in the Highlands when a 
river was crossed by the main flock, and also in Sussex, where the change was but from one plantation to 
another. 
Since the above lines were written, I remarked a Creeper in company with Coal Tits as early in the season 
as the 9th of August. My attention was first attracted by the lively party of eight or ten Tits flitting through 
the branches of a beech-grove in the interior of Sussex. I was somewhat astonished when, a few moments 
later, a single Creeper made his appearance, steadily working his way from tree to tree, and keeping pace 
with the Tits as they advanced. Owing to the dense foliage, it was by no means easy to retain the birds in 
view ; but I managed to watch the Tits to the end of a ride that led through the wood, when they turned 
back and disappeared in the thick cover. As far as I could judge, the Creeper parted from the rest of the 
company at this point, and struck out a line for himself. 
Insects appear to be the principal support of the old birds ; and I could detect that they brought no other 
food to their young when I have watched them engaged in supplying their wants. 
Eor nesting-purposes this species resorts to a variety of situations. Holes in old timber, or the gaps 
between the slabs in a dry stone dyke*, are frequently made use of in the Highlands. I have also seen 
the nest in the cavities among the roots of an old dead stump. In this instance the birds had chosen a 
subterranean domicile, as the nest was some distance below the level of the ground. In Sussex, on two 
or three occasions in remote country districts, I met with nests placed in wooden dwelling-houses and also 
in sheds. In one case a knot had dropped out of the timber and afforded an entrance to the spot selected ; 
but usually a rotten or defective plank supplied the means of ingress. Their nest is not elaborately put 
together ; but is usually a warm and cosy collection of grass, wool, and feathers, screened by its hidden position 
from all effects of wind and weather. 
* A wall built without mortar. 
