catcher. I find he had not seen it in England. It is
very beautifully coloured, though the chief is cinereous;
but the shades of red on the wings, and the large spots
of white and yellow on the quill-feathers, are uncommonly
pleasing. You see Wilughby does not mention them.”
With reference to the second occurrence, I quote from
‘ The Birds of Lancashire ’ by Mr. F. S. Mitchell, who,
at p. 56 of his work, informs us that one of this species
was shot at Sabden, a village at the foot of Pendle Hill,
on May 8, 1872; it was too much mangled to allow
of the determination of its sex, but was preserved by
Mr. W. Naylor of Whalley, and is now in Mr. Mitchell’s
possession.
To make the acquaintance of this species in its
native haunts during the summer months, we must
visit limestone-cliffs at a considerable height above the
sea. My own acquaintance with the Wall-Creeper was
first formed high up in the Italian Alps during the
month of August; I found it in small family-parties,
generally frequenting precipitous faces of rock; the birds
examine every nook and crevice, not, as in the case of
the Woodpeckers, by continuous climbing, but by a
series of short hops in some degrees resembling the
method of progression of the Nuthatch: the birds thus
observed by me appeared to be perfectly fearless of man,
probably from their small acquaintance with him, and
permitted of a very close observation of their habits;
they seemed to find abundant food in the crannies and
small fissures of the limestone upon which I could hardly
bear my hand in the full blaze of noon; after carefully
examining one of these localities the bird would flit with