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.