Treecreepers are small brownish birds with cryptic upperparts and paler, plainer underparts, which habitually feed by foraging on the bark of trees, often following a helical path up the trunk. The Certhia treecreepers have stiffened tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to brace themselves against tree trunks, though this feature is absent in the spotted creepers (genus Salpornis). Most members of the family are found in Eurasia, north of the Tropic of Cancer from Western Europe to the Far East; Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) is the only New World species, and the two recently split species of spotted creeper, Indian (Salpornis spilonotus) and African (S salvadori) are found further south in Africa and India respectively.