PASSERES CERTHID/E MNIOTILTA. 51 



The Brown Creeper is supposed not to be a common species in this State, although it 

 breeds and remains here the whole year. It may not, however, have been often observed, as 

 it is a very solitary bird, inhabiting for the most part the recesses of the forests. The eggs 

 are from 7-9, of a dull ash-color with dots and streaks of brown. It feeds on insects and the 

 seeds of pines. Wilson could detect no differences between this and the Common Creeper 

 {C.familiaris) of Europe. In this he has been followed by all ornithologists until recently, 

 when Charles Bonaparte, whose knowledge of both European and American birds is confess- 

 edly unrivalled, has considered them as specifically distinct. It ranges from Louisiana to the 

 50th desrree of north latitude. 



(EXTRA-LIM1TAL.) 



C. albifrons. (Giraud, Birds of Texas, plate.) Dark brown, spotted with lighter. Tail and coverts 

 light brown, broadly barred with black : throat, foreneck and breast pure white. Length, 5 # 4. 

 Texas. 



GENUS MNIOTILTA. Vieillot. 



Bill straight, slender, much compressed towards the end : notches on the edges obsolete. 

 Tongue long, pointed and horny at tip. Feet moderate, very slender. Tarsus much com- 

 pressed ; the upper scutella blended, shorter than the middle toe and claw. Toes com- 

 pressed ; the first very long. Plumage loose. "Wings long : the second and third quills 

 longest, subequal ; first longer than the fourth. Tail moderate, nearly even, slightly 

 emarginate. 



Obs. This genus was instituted by Vieillot, for the reception of a species which had been 

 arranged by Linnsus as a Motacilla, by Latham as a Sylvia, and by Wilson and Vieillot 

 himself as a Certhia. It was subsequently arranged by Bonaparte as a Sylvia, and by 

 Swainson and Jardine as a Sylvicola. Wilson, considering the actual state of ornithological 

 knowledge in his time, was justified by its habits, and most of its characters, in placing it as 

 he did. But one species has yet been discovered. 



