120 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
THE TRUE CREEPERS. GENUS CERTHIA. 
Certhia, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 184(1766). 
Type, C. familiaris, Linn. 
The true Tree-Creepers — such as our British birds — are 
about ten in number, and are found in the northern parts 
of both Hemispheres, as far south as Guatemala in Central 
America, and over the greater part of Europe and Asia, as 
far as the Himalayas and the Burmese countries. The char- 
acters of the genus have been explained under the heading of 
the family ( vide supra). 
THE TREE-CREEPER. CERTHIA FAMILIARIS. 
Certhia familiaris, Linn., S. N., i., p. 184 (17 66); Macg., Br. 
B., iii., p. 33 (1840) ; Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 468 (1874) ; 
Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 195, pi. 122 (1874); B. O. U. 
List Br. B., p. 45 (1883) ; Seeb., Br. B., i., p. 511 (1883); 
Gadow, Cat. B., Brit. Mus., viii., p. 323 (1883); Lilford, 
Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. iv. (1887) ; Saunders, Man., p. 109 
( r 889) ; Wyatt, Brit. B., pi. 9, fig. 2 (1894). 
Adult Male. — General colour above brown, with a tinge of 
golden buff, the head and back streaked with ashy-grey centres 
to the feathers ; the rump and upper tail-coverts orange-tawny, 
the feathers long and fluffy, and having a silky white mark just 
before their tips ; lores dusky, as also the feathers below the eye 
and along the upper edge of the ear-coverts ; above the eye a 
streak of silky white ; sides of face and under surface of body 
also silky white ; wing-coverts tipped with yellowish-buff, the 
greater coverts with white, before which is a black band ; the 
quills dusky-brown, chequered with a broad bar of huffy-white 
across the inner primaries and secondaries, bordered above and 
below with black; the inner secondaries externally buff towards 
their ends, the innermost black before their white tips ; tail- 
feathers brown, with reddish-brown shafts; bill dark brown, the 
lower mandible paler ; feet brown ; iris clear hazel. Total 
length, 5-5 inches; culmen, 07 ; wing, 27 ; tail, 2-3; tarsus, 
o - 6. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male in plumage. Total length, 
5 inches; wing, 27 ; tarsus, C55. 
