212 
EEPTATRICES. 
along the Thames, and in the counties of Cambridge, Norfolk, 
Suffolk, and Lincoln. Residing among the reeds and other 
aquatic plants, it clings to their stems in the manner of Tits, 
Siskins, or Redpolls. Its food consists of seeds and small tes- 
taceous mollusca. The nest, generally placed in a tuft of 
grass or rushes on the ground, is composed of leaves of grass 
and sedge, and lined with panicles of seeds. The eggs, five 
or six, are eight and a half twelfths long, white, with a few 
light red lines and dots. 
Bearded Titmouse. Least Butcher-bird. 
Parus biarmicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 342. — Parus biarmi- 
cus, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 298. — Calamophilus biarmicus, 
Bearded Pinnock, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 694. 
While some birds, as the Vagatrices, are well adapted for 
walking on the ground, and others, as the Cantatrices and 
Deglubitrices, are fitted for hopping from twig to twig, or 
for advancing on the ground by short leaps ; there are others 
more peculiarly fitted for climbing in various ways. Thus, 
the Parrots ascend by grasping the twigs with their feet and 
bill ; the Woodpeckers and Creepers by hooking themselves 
against the bark, and supporting themselves by pressing 
their tail against the surface. Of these climbing birds some 
have the three fore toes more or less united at the base and 
spreading little, while others have the outer toe directed out- 
wards or backwards. Hence two groups, designated by the 
names of Creepers and Climbers. 
ORDER IX. REPTATRICES. CREEPERS. 
Birds of small size, having a slender body, short or mo- 
derate neck, small oblong head. Bill more or less elon- 
gated, slender, compressed, acute. Mouth narrow ; tongue 
slender, varying in length ; oesophagus of moderate width, 
without dilatation ; stomach of moderate size, oblong or 
elliptical, with the lateral muscles rather thick, the epi- 
