40 
British Birds. 
The Creepers are truly insectivorous birds and expert climbers 
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' on rocks and trees, feeding on tiny insects which they discover 
„ ^ in such situations. The family is almost entirely a northern 
CERIHIIDJE. _ J 
one, being distributed over the temperate portions of the Old and 
New Worlds, ranging in the west to Central America, and in the east to the 
Himalayas, being sparsely replaced by allied genera in the Indian Peninsula, Africa 
and Australia. The true Creepers have a stiffened and pointed tail like that of the 
Woodpeckers, but there are many soft-tailed species, just as there are the soft- 
tailed Wrynecks ( lynx ), amongst the Woodpeckers. One of the most conspicuous 
of the soft-tailed Creepers is the following : — 
The Wall-Creeper ( Ticliodroma muraria). 
This bird has occurred in Norfolk and in Lanca- 
shire, while a third has been recently recorded from 
Sussex. Mr. Howard Saunders has pointed out 
that the species occasionally visits Normandy, so 
that its occurrence in the British Islands may now 
and then be expected. It is a bird easily recognis- 
able on account of the crimson in the wings. As in 
other Creepers, the bill is long, slender, and curved. 
The general colour of the Wall-Creeper is a delicate 
blue-grey, and the wings and tail are black, with a 
conspicuous white spot on the outer primaries, 
very much in evidence when the bird is flying; the 
tail is likewise tipped with white spots. In 
summer the throat is black, but in winter it is 
white. 
The Wall-Creeper inhabits the mountain ranges 
of Southern Europe, North-east Africa, Central 
The Wall-Creeper. Asia, and the Himalayas as far as China. It has 
a peculiar flight, like that of a Butterfly, and climbs 
up rocks and buildings with a sidling crab-like motion, flicking its wings open rapidly, 
and exhibiting their beautiful crimson colour with every movement. The nest is 
placed in crevices of rocks, and is made of moss and grass, with a mass of hair, wool 
and feathers compacted together, and is lined with wool and hair. The eggs are from 
three to five in number, pure white, sparsely spotted with tiny black or reddish- 
brown dots. 
The Tree-Creeper [Certhia familiaris). This is a small bird with a curved 
bill and a peculiar tail, the feathers of which are stiffened and pointed, serving the 
same purpose as the rigid tail of the Woodpeckers, as the biid climbs up the tiunk of 
a tree or runs along the branches. The Tree-Creeper of Great Britain has been 
separated as a distinct race by Mr. Ridgway, and called Certhia britannica, and 
