Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 253 



is made until the last week of the month or early in April, when 

 migration on a large scale takes place in central Missouri, reach- 

 ing the northern border about the middle of April. Its progress 

 depends much on the weather; if favorable, the last has passed 

 the region of St. Louis by the 10th, but if windy and cold, a not 

 unfrequent occurrence in early April, it may still be present 

 at the beginning of the third week, exceptionally even later, 

 as April 26, 1885. At Keokuk most of "lasts" reported are 

 from April 16 to 25. In the abnormally cold spring of 1907 a 

 Creeper was seen and heard to sing by Mr. Roger N. Baldwin 

 and the writer at St. Louis as late as May 19. In fall migration 

 the first Creepers reach Missouri from the north in the fourth 

 week of September (September 21, 1884, Mt. Carmel; September 

 24, 1887, St. Louis); but they do not become common until 

 October, when generally in the second week of that month the 

 bulk passes through the state. After the middle of November 

 winter numbers only are left, remaining not only in mild but also 

 in severe winters as that of 1904-1905 (January 23, 1905, St. 

 Louis; January 1, 1905, Warrensburg). That the Brown Creep- 

 er is a breeder in the Bald Cypress {Taxodium) swamps of the 

 south was unknown until a nest with eggs was found by the writer 

 at Cotton Plant, Dunklin Co., June 2, 1894, in the overflow of 

 the Little River (Auk vol. 12, 1895, p. 350). Subsequent visits 

 to the southeast showed that the species is a regular inhabitant 

 of the region, wherever old Cypress trees are found, under the 

 loose bark of which the nests are placed (May 16, 1898, three 

 nests were found in Seneca slough, Dunklin Co.) . On its breeding 

 ground in the swamp the Creeper is one of the most difficult 

 birds to detect, as it frequents the higher branches of trees and 

 remains so well hidden that it is almost impossible to see it, 

 even while it gives its shrill song repeatedly. This resembles 

 at a distance some notes of the Carolina Chickadee, for which it 

 may be mistaken by one who does not suspect the presence of 

 the Creeper. 



Family Sittidae. Nuthatches. 

 *727. SiTTA CAROLiNENSis Lath. White-breasted Nuthatch. 



White-bellied or Carolina Nuthatch. 



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

 Anticosti and Keewatin ; west to eastern edge of the Great Plains, 

 replaced westward by the subspecies nelsoni, the Rocky Mountain 



