464 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



CERTHIA FAMILIARIS AMERICANA (Bonaparte). 

 BROWN CREEPER, 



Adults in spring and summer. — General color above sepia or bister 

 brown (varying in intensitj") relieved by conspicuous streaks of dull 

 grayish white, these broader and less sharply defined on the back, the 

 prevailing color of the lower back being pale brownish gray or grayish 

 brown; rump russet or dull tawnj^-ochraceous, each feather with a 

 concealed large roundish spot of white, the basal portion being deep 

 slate color; upper tail-coverts pale raw umber brown, sometimes 

 tipped with paler; tail pale grayish brown (nearly hair brown), some- 

 times showing indistinct, or indications of, darker bars, the shafts of the 

 rectrices pale yellowish brown or brownish 3'ellow; lesser wing-coverts 

 pale brownish gray; rest of wings mainly dark sepia brow^n or dusky, 

 the middle coverts with terminal guttate spots of brownish buff or 

 buff}^ whitish, the outer webs of greater coverts broadly tipped with 

 whitish and broadly edged toward base with pale buff}" grayish; alulae 

 and (usually) primar}'^ coverts tipped with whitish; inner webs of ter- 

 tials plain pale grajnsh brown; their outer webs dusky, tipped, and 

 edged with dull whitish or pale grayish buff'; middle portion of sec- 

 ondaries crossed (on both webs) by a broad sharply defined band of 

 pale l^ufl' or buffy white, their outer web broadh" edged near tip with 

 pale brownish gray, the tip, narrowly, of the same color; primaries 

 crossed, obliquely, on both webs by a broad band of pale buff or buffy 

 white, this band disappearing on two or three outermost quills, the 

 innermost primaries also tipped and edged on subterminal portion of 

 outer web with pale brownish or buffy gray; a dull whitish or pale 

 brownish gray superciliary strijDe; lores and auricular region dark 

 sepia brown, the latter streaked with dull whitish; suborbital and 

 malar regions and underparts plain dull white, the flanks and under 

 tail-coverts more or less tinged with buff; maxilla brownish black 

 with paler tomia; mandible pale-colored basally, dusky terminally; 

 iris brown; legs and feet horn brownish (in dried skins). 



Adults in autwmn and lolnter. — Similar to the spring and simimer 

 plumage and not always distinguishable, but usually more suffused 

 with ochraceous or buffy, the pale wing-markings and the flanks and 

 under tail-coverts more pronouncedly buff'. 



Young. — Essentially like adults, but streaks of upper parts broader 

 and less sharpl}^ defined, more brownish, and underparts dull buffy 

 whitish, with feathers of chest narrow^ly and faintly margined with 

 dusky. 



Adalt 7/iaZ6.— Length (skins), 120-135 (127.7); wing, 62-68 (65.5); 

 tail, 61-66(63.7); exposed culmen, 12-15 (13.0); tarsus, 14.5-16(15.1); 

 middle toe, 10.5-11.5 (11); hind claw, 8-9 (S.5).« 



« Thirteen specimens. 



