68 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



(d). The only note of the Red-bellied Nuthatch is an un- 

 mnsical sound, like the word "ank," which, saj's Mr. Maynard, 

 is repeated more deliberately and less querulousl}' in the breed- 

 ing-season than at other times ; a fact, which I also have 

 noticed. It is, however, varied considerably in pitch at all 

 times of the year. 



§ G. Certhiidae. Creepers. (See § 4.) 

 I. CERTHIA 



(A) FAMiLiARis.i''' Broivn Creeper. 



(In Eastern Massachusetts xevy rare in summer, but common 

 in winter.) 



(a). About 5 J- inches long. Bill slender and decurved ; tail- 

 feathers rigid and acuminate (as in other Certhiince). Below, 

 white. Tail unmarked. Other upper parts curiously and finely 

 marked with several browns and wlutish. 



{b). Wilson says that "the Brown Creeper builds his nest 

 in the hollovv trunk or branch of a tree, where the tree has 

 been shivered, or a limb broken off, or where squirrels or 

 Woodpeckers have wrought out an entrance, for nature has not 

 provided him with the means of excavating one for himself." 

 Mr. Gregg (in a Catalogue of the Birds of Chemung County, 

 New York) sa3's that " the nest of this species is built of dry 

 twigs attached to the sides of some perpendicular object ;" and 

 that he " discovered one on the attic of a deserted log house ; 

 the nest rested upon the inner projection of the gable clap- 

 board, and was cemented together with a gumm}^ or gelatinous 

 substance." The onl}' nest that I have found in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston was a few feet from the ground, placed in the 

 cavity formed by the rending of a tree by lightning. The 

 eggs, which were fresh on the twentieth day of Ma}^ were 

 grayish-white, speckled with reddish-brown, chiefly at the 

 larger end, and measured about "GOX'SO of an inch. A nest, 

 containing 3'oung, found in a New Hampshire forest, was much 

 like one found "in a large elm in Court Square, Springfield, 



"Once called Americana and ''American Creeper." 



