320 
CER 
CER 
CER 
sists of a single petal ; the tube is cylindra- 
ceous, oblong, and terminating with* a long 
globose base ; the limb is small, and divided 
into five segments : the fruit is two cylindra- 
ceous accumulated tioscules, containing one 
cell, and divided by two valves ; the seeds 
are numerous, imbricated, and oblong. 
There are six species. 
CERTHIA, in ornithology, the creeper 
or ox-eye, a genus belonging to the order of 
pic*. The beak is arched, slender, sharp, 
and triangular ; the tongue is sharp at the 
point ; and the feet are of the walking kind, 
or having the toes open and unconnected. 
Of this genus near 50 species have been enu- 
merated. The following are a few of the 
most remarkable: 
1. The familiaris, or common ox-eye, is 
grey above and white underneath, with brown 
wings, and ten white spots on the ten prime 
feathers. This bird is found in most parts 
of Europe, though it is believed no where so 
common as in Britain. It may be thought 
more scarce than it really is by the less at- 
tentive observer; for, supposing it on the 
body or branch of any tree, the moment it 
observes any one, it gets to the opposite side, 
and so on, let a person walk round the tree 
ever so often. The facility of its running on 
the bark of a tree, in all directions, is won- 
derful ; this it does with as much ease as a lly 
on a glass window. Its food is principally, 
if not wholly, insects, which it finds in the 
•hinks and among the moss of trees. It 
builds its nest in some hole of a tree, and 
lays generally five eggs, very rarely more 
than seven : these are ash-coloured, marked 
at the end with spots and streaks of a deeper 
colour. 
2. The hook-billed green creeper inhabits 
the Sandwich islands in general, and is one 
of the birds whose plumage the natives make 
use of in constructing their feathered gar- 
ments ; which having these olive-green fea- 
thers intermixed witli the beautiful scarlet and 
yellow ones belonging to the next species, 
and yellow-tufted bee-eater, make some of 
the most beautiful coverings of these island- 
ers. 
3. The pusila, or brown and white creeper, 
is not above half the size of our European 
creeper. The upper part of the body is 
brown, with a changeable gloss of copper: 
the under parts are white. It is a native of 
the Cape, and is fond of honey. 
4. The Loteni, or Loten’s creeper, has 
the head, neck, back, rump, scapulars, and 
upper tail-coverts, of green gold ; beneath, 
from the breast to the vent, of velvet black, 
which is separated from the green on the 
neck by a transverse bright violet band. It 
inhabits Ceylon and Madagascar. 
5. The cerulea, or blue creeper, has the 
head of a most elegant blue; but on each 
side there is a stripe of black like velvet, in 
which the eye is placed : the chin and throat 
are marked with black in the same manner ; 
the rest of the body violet blue. It inhabits 
Cayenne. It makes its nest with great art. 
The outside is composed of dry stalks of 
grass, or such like ; but within of very downy 
soft materials, in the shape of a retort, which 
it suspends from some weak twig, at the en« 
of a branch of a tree, the opening or mouth 
downwards, facing the ground : the neck is 
a foot in length, but the real nest is quite at 
the top, so that the bird has to climb up this 
funnel-like opening to get at the nest. Thus 
it is secure from every harm ; neither mon- 
key, snake, nor lizard, daring to venture at 
the end of the branch, as it would not steadily 
support them. 
6. The sannio, or mocking creeper, is of 
the size of the lesser thrush. On the cheeks 
is a narrow white spot: the head, especially 
on the crown, is inclined to violet; the plu- 
mage in general is olive-green. It inhabits 
both the islands of New Zealand. It has an 
agreeable note in general; but at times so 
varies and modulates the voice, that it seems 
to imitate the notes of all other birds ; hence 
it was called by the English the mocking- 
bird. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 101. 
CERTIFICATE, in law, a writing made 
in any court, to give notice to another court 
of any thing done therein. The clerks of 
the crown, assize, and the peace, are to make 
certificates into the king’s bench of the tenor 
of all indictments, convictions, outlawries, 
!tec. 
CERTIFICATION of assize of novel dis- 
seisin, a writ granted for the re-examination 
or review of a matter passed by assize before 
any justices ; as where a man appearing by 
his bailiff' to an assize brought by another, 
has lost the day, and having something 
more to plead for himself, as a deed of re- 
lease, &c. which the bailiff did not or might 
not plead for him, desires a farther examina- 
tion of the cause, either before the same jus- 
tices or others, and obtains letters patent 
to that effect. 
CERTIORARI. The writ of certiorari 
is an original writ, issuing out of the court 
of chancery or the king’s bench, directed in 
the king's name to the judges or officers of 
inferior courts, commanding them to certify 
or to return the records of a cause depend- 
ing before them, to the end the party may 
have the more sure and speedy justice before 
the king or such justices as he shall assign 
to determine the cause. 1 Bac. Abr. 
A certiorari lies in all judicial proceedings 
in which a writ of error does not lie ; and it 
is a consequence of all inferior jurisdictions 
erected by act of parliament, to have their 
proceedings returnable in the king’s bench. 
Ld. Raym. 469. 
In particular cases the court will use their 
discretion to grant a certiorari, as if the de- 
fendant is of good character, or if the prose- 
cution is malicious, or attended with oppres- 
sive circumstances. Leach’s Ham. 2. c. 27. 
s. 28. n. 
The courts of chancery and king’s-bench 
may award a certiorari ; to remove the pro- 
ceeding from any inferior courts, whether 
they are of ancient or newly created juris- 
diction, unless the statute or charter which 
creates them exempts them from such juris- 
diction. 1 Salk. 144 .pi. 3. 
CERT-MONEY, a fine paid yearly by 
the residents of several manors to the lord 
thereof, and sometimes to the hundred, pro 
certo lete, that is, for the certain keeping of 
the leet. 
CERVICAL nerves. See Anatomy. 
CERVIX, in anatomy, denotes properly 
the hinder part of the neck. See Ana- 
tomy. 
CERUSE, or Ceruss, white-lead, a sort 
of calx of lead, made by exposing plates of 
that metal to the vapour of vinegar. See 
Chemistry, 
CERVUS, the stag or deer-kind, in zoo- 
logy, a genus of quadrupeds of the order of 
the pecora. The generic character is : horns 
solid, covered while young with a hairy skin, 
growing from the top, naked, annual, branch- 
ed. Front teeth in the lower jaw, eight. 
Canine teeth, none; sometimes single in the 
upper jaw. 
1. Cervus alces, or elk. The elk, by far 
the largest animal of this genus, is, when full 
grown, scarcely inferior to a horse in size. 
It is common to both continents, inhabiting 
only the coldest regions, and is observed to 
arrive at a greater magnitude in Asia and 
America than in Europe. In its shape it is 
much less elegant than the rest of the deer 
tribe ; having a very short and thick neck, a 
large head, horns dilating almost immediate- 
ly from the base into a broad palmated form, 
a thick, broad, heavy upper lip, hanging 
very much over the lower ; very high should- 
ers, and long legs. Notwithstanding its awk- 
ward proportions, it is, however, of a noble 
and majestic appearance. It is also a mild 
and harmless animal, and principally sup- 
ports itself by brousing the boughs of trees in 
the vast and dreary forests of the frozen 
zone. The greatest height of the elk is about 
seventeen hands, and its greatest weight 
about 1229 pounds. The horns have been 
known to measure each 32 inches in length. 
The female is rather smaller than the male, 
and has no horns. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 103. 
In Europe the elk is found chiefly in Swe- 
den, Norway, and some parts of Russia. In 
Asia it occurs in the woody tracts of the Rus- 
sian dominions; and in Siberia in particular 
is found of gigantic magnitude. In America 
it seems to be most common in Canada, and 
the country round the great lakes, and is 
called by the name of moose-deer. 
Tiie elk, though naturally of an inoffensive 
and peaceable disposition, displays a high 
degree of courage, and even ferocity, when 
suddenly attacked; defending himself with 
great vigour, not only with his horns, but also 
by striding violently with his fore feet, in the 
use of which he is so dextrous as easily to 
kill a dog, or even a wolf, at a single blow. 
2. r Cervus tarandus, or rein-deer (see Plate 
Nat. Hist. fig. 104.), like the elk, is an inha- 
bitant of the northern regions. In Europe 
its chief residence is in Norway and Lap- 
land. In Asia it frequents the north coast as 
far as Kamtschatka, and the inland parts as 
far as Siberia. In America it occurs in 
Greenland, and does not extend farther 
south than Canada. The height of a full- 
grown rein-deer is four feet six inches : the 
body is of a somewhat thick and square 
form, and the legs shorter in proportion than 
those of the stag. Its general colour is 
brown above and white beneath ; but as it 
advances in age, it often becomes of a grey- 
ish white. No animal of this tribe appears 
to vary so much in the form and length of its 
horns as the rein-deer. In general the horns 
are remarkable for their great length and 
proportional slenderness, and are furnished 
with a pair of brow antlers, with widely ex- 
panded and palmated tips directed forwards. 
In the young and middle-aged rein-deer the 
horns are remarkable for their slender form ; 
but as the animal advances in age, they are 
of a stronger appearance. With the Lap- 
landers, indeed, this animal is at once the 
