BRITISH BIRDS. 
125 
THE CREEPER. 
( Gerthia familiaris, Lin , — Le Crimper eau y BufF.) 
Its length is five inches and a half ; the body is 
about the fize of that of the Wren : Its bill is long, 
flender, and much curved, the upper one brown, 
the lower whitilh ; eyes hazel ; the head, neck, 
back, and wing coverts are of a dark brown, varie- 
gated with breaks of a lighter hue ; the throat, 
breaft, and belly are of a filvery white ; the rump 
tawny; the quills are dulky, edged with tawny, 
and marked with bars of the fame colour ; the tips 
are white ; above each eye a fmall dark line paf- 
fes towards the neck, above which there is a line 
of white ; the tail is long, and confifts of twelve 
ftiff feathers, of a tawny colour, pointed and forked 
at the end ; the legs are Ihort and of a brown co- 
