194 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



Fl 's- "3- bars of dusky and light, except on 



the head and upper part of the 

 back ; beneath pale reddish-brown, 

 more or less spotted and barred. The 

 scapulars, wing coverts, and outer web 

 of primaries are spotted with white. 

 The motions of the Winter Wren are 

 exceedingly varied, rapid, and precise. 



Winter Wren, J t ma y ^6 seen j n a score o f 



T. hyemalis, Vieill. ; 



tudes in the course of a few minutes. 

 Now it is on one side of a brush-heap, and in a moment 

 it has passed through and appears on the other. It 

 reaches the upper branches of a small tree by hopping 

 from twig to twig, and in the course of its passage pre- 

 sents each side in turn to you a dozen times ; and when 

 at the top it utters a delicate melody, and then dashes 

 headlong, and is out of sight in a moment. Audubon 

 says that the song of the Winter Wren excels that of any 

 other bird of its size with which he is acquainted. The 

 nest is long and bag-like, and attached to a rock or tree 

 near the ground. It is made of moss and lichens, and 

 lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are six or more, 

 of the most delicate rose-color, dotted with reddish brown. 



The Genus Chamcea comprises the Ground Tit, C. fas- 

 data, Gambel, of California, which is six inches long ; the 

 upper parts olivaceous brown, the lower pale brownish- 

 cinnamon. 



CERTHIADJE, OR CREEPER FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises birds with the bill slender, as long or longer than 

 the head, without a notch ; and the entire basal joint of 

 the middle toe united to the lateral ones. 



The Genus Certhia has the bill as long as the head, 

 and much compressed and decurved from the base. 



The American Creeper, C. americana, Bonap., of North 

 America, is five and a half inches long, the wing over 



