_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
CLIMACTERIS PICUMNUS, _Temm._
White-throated Tree-Creeper.
_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. ii. 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.
The range of this species is as widely extended as that of the
_Climacteris scandens_, being a common bird in 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 Illawarra 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 _Casuarinæ_, that I have seldom seen a group of
these trees without at the same time observing the White-throated
Tree-Creeper, the rough bark affording numerous receptacles for various
kinds of insects, which constitute its sole diet. I have never seen this
species near the water-holes, and I feel assured it has the power of
subsisting without drinking.
The breeding-season is in September and the three following months. The
nest is built of grasses, is warmly lined with feathers, and is placed
in the hollow branch or hole of a tree. The eggs are three in number, of
a dull white thinly speckled with fine spots of rich brown, and a few
larger blotches of the same 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, with the exception of having
a small orange-coloured spot just below the ear-coverts, and by which
she is at once distinguished from her mate.
The figures are those of a male and female of the natural size.
[Illustration: