252 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



of these plants, differing greatly from the neat structures of 

 the Short-billed cousin, made of narrower grass blades. It 

 begins to show on its breeding grounds about the middle of 

 April (April 11, 1903, Kansas City; April 19, 1903; Montgomery 

 City), but, waiting for the growth of its favorite reeds, its 

 numbers increase slowly and reach full force only a month later 

 (May 11, 1897, May 16, 1898 and 1899, Keokuk). When over- 

 taken by storms at night in migration, it may be encountered 

 in places far from water, its only true home. Fall migration 

 begins in the middle of September and lasts through October 

 into November, the last ones being noted as late as November 12, 

 1893, November 16, 1897, and November 21, 1899, in Clark Co. 

 by Mr. Currier. Like that of the Short-billed Marsh Wren 

 the capture of three specimens of this species. May 9, 1907, in 

 Shannon Co. by Mr. E. S. Woodruff deserves particular mention 

 as hardly expected in that high and wooded region. 



Family Certhiidae. Creepers. 



*726. Certhia familiaris Americana (Bonap.). Brown 

 Creeper. 



Certhia familiaris. Certhia americana. Certhia familiaris rufa. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America, north to Newfoundland, 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba; 

 west to Dakotas, eastern Nebraska, Indian Territory and Texas. 

 Breeds from Massachusetts, New York, northern Indiana, 

 northern Wisconsin, eastern Nebraska, southeastern South 

 Dakota northward; also along higher Alleghanies from North 

 Carolina northward and in the Cypress swamps of the lower 

 Mississippi Valley. Winters from the northern United States 

 southward, but chiefly south of the Ohio River to northern Flor- 

 ida and central Texas. 



In Missouri the Creeper is a common transient visitant in all 

 parts of the state for a short time in spring and fall ; also a com- 

 mon winter resident in the heavily wooded southeast, but of 

 less regular occurrence in winter in other parts of the state, 

 especially in the northern, where it is rather rare except in the 

 timber of river bottoms. In migration it occurs everywhere, 

 even in cities, but does not stay long in one place seeming to 

 be in haste to proceed toward its destination. In spring the first 

 stir northward is noticeable about March 10, but little progress 



