The Tree Creeper.
(Certhia familiaris.)
The winsome little Tree-Creeper is distributed all over Great Britain, but you need a sharp eye to detect it in its quiet colouring on the trunk of a tree with which its quiet colours are in perfect harmony. Within the crevices of the bark it finds its diet of destructive creatures’ eggs which are glued to the bark and little spiders which hide there. During the winter it associates with the Titmice and Fire-crested Wrens. Upwards and downwards and round about the old tree trunk it moves. It might be taken for a mouse or some such creature; it moves about so deftly and so close to the hole of its tree, a useful unobtrusive little bird. In the United States they consider this species so useful that they fix a box for it, to entice it to nest in gardens.
The Tree-Creeper climbs as nimbly as the best Woodpecker. It cannot extend its tongue as that bird does, but can use it very cleverly. With its fine little bill it can pierce into the smallest crevices and extract from them the tiniest grubs. It is of great use in wood and garden. Its usual note is a low “seet” or “seet, seet, seet.” The simple song of the male bird is recognisable by the syllabes teet, teet, teet, titi-woi-teet.
It is not uncommon in Hungary.
The Tree Creeper is smaller even than the Wren, but is longer than that bird; it is a tiny creature with a stiff tail which is very useful in climbing. There are three front toes and one back toe on the little legs; the
USEFUL.
