CLIMACTERIS PICUMNUS,

White-throated Tree-Creeper.

Temm.

Certhia picumnus, Ill.

Climacteris picumnus,Temm. Pl. Col. 281. fig. 1.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 295.
New Holland Nuthatch, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 78.

Barred-tailed Honey-eater, Ib. p. 179.?

Certhia leucoptera, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxxvi. ?

Le Dirigang, Vieill. Ois. Dor., tom. u. p. 127.?

Dirigang Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 106. ?—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 260. ?
Dirigang Honey-eater and var. A., Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 182—183. ?

The Common Creeper, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pl. 25.

 

Tur range of this species is as widely extended as that of the Chmacteris scandens, being a common bird im
New South Wales and the intervening country, as far as South Australia: the precise limits of its habitat
northward have not been ascertained ; but it does not form part of the Fauna of Western Australia.

The whole structure of this species is much more slender and Certhia-like than any other member of its
genus, and I observed that this difference of form has a corresponding influence over its habits, which are
more strictly arboreal than those of its congeners ; indeed so much so, that it is questionable whether the
bird ever descends to the ground. It also differs from the C. scandens in the character of country and
kind of trees it inhabits, being rarely seen on the large Eucalypti in the open forest lands, but resorting
to trees bordering creeks, as well as those on the mountains and the brushes. I have frequently seen
it in the brushes of [lawarra and Maitland, in which localities the C. scandens is seldom if ever found.
While traversing the trunks of trees in search of insects, which it does with great facility, it utters a
shrill piping cry: in this cry, and indeed in the whole of its actions, it strikingly reminded me of the
Common Creeper of Europe (Certhia familiaris), particularly in its manner of ascending the upright
trunks of the trees, commencing at the bottom and gradually creeping up the bole to the top, and generally
in a spiral direction. It is so partial to the Caswarine, that Ihave seldom seen a group of these trees
without at the same time observing the White-throated T ree-Creeper, the rough bark affordig numerous
receptacles for various kinds of insects, which constitute its sole diet. I have never seen this species near
ed it has the power of subsisting without drinking.

the water-holes, and I feel assur
The nest is built of grasses, 1s

The breeding-season is in September and the three following months.

lined with feathers, and is placed in the hollow branch or bole of a tree.
of rich brown, and a few larger blotches of the same

warmly The eggs are three in
number, of a dull white thinly speckled with fine spots

colour ; they are ten lines long by eight lines broad.
Crown of the head and back of the neck sooty black ; back olive-brown ; wings dark brown, all the

primaries and secondaries crossed in the centre by a dull buff-coloured band ; throat and centre of the
abdomen white, the latter tinged with buff; feathers of the flanks brownish black, with a broad stripe of
dull white down the centre; rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey; under tail-coverts white, crossed by
several bands of black, each of which being separated on the stem appear like a double spot; tail greyish
brown, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip; bill black; the under mandible horn-colour at the

base ; feet blackish brown.
The female is precisely the same in colour,
below the ear-coverts, and by which she is at onc
The figures are those of a male and female of the natural size.

with the exception of having a small orange-coloured spot just

e distinguished from her mate.

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