THE TAWNY CREEPER. 297 



(Ridgway ). Length of male-; wing 2.44 ( 61.9 ) ; tail 2.41 (61.2) ; bill .60 ( 15.2) ; 

 tarsus .61 ( 13.5 ). 



Recognition Marks. — As in preceding; darker. 



Nesting. — Xcst: as in preceding; placed behind sprung bark scale usually 

 at moderate heights, 3-20 feet up (one record of 60). Inner diameter of one 

 nest 1% inches, depth 23/. Eggs: 5 or 6, as in C. f. zelotcs. Av. size .58 x .47 

 (14.7X II. 9). Season: May, June; two broods. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from Northern California to Sitka. 



Range in Washington. — Resident thruout the West-side from tidewater up. 



Authorities. — ': Ccrtliia familiaris Orn. Com. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 \'II. 18^7, 193 (Columbia River). CcrtJiia anicricana Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv.. IX. 1858, p. 372, part. (T). C&S. L'. Rh. Ra. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. of \\'. Prov. P>N. 



TO one who lo\-es birds with an all inclusi\'e passion — such as the 

 undecided bachelor is wont to confess for the fair sex — the temptation 

 to use superlatives upon each successive species as it is brought under review 

 is very strong. But here perhaps we may be pardoned for relaxing our 

 attention, or, it may be. for being caught in the act of stifling a little yawn. 

 Cerfliia is a prosy drab, and all the beauty she possesses is in the eyes of her 

 little hubby — dear, devoted creature. 



This clerkling ( huljby, of course, I mean) was brought into the world 

 behind a bit of bark. His first steps, or creeps, were taken along the 

 bark of the home tree. When the little wings got stronger and wdien 

 the little claws had carried him up to the top of tree number One, he 

 fluttered and spilled thru tlie air until he pulled up sonielniw. with heart 

 beating fiercely, at the base and 011 the bark of tree number Two. Since 

 then he has climbed an almost infinit}' of trees (but I dare say he has 

 kept count ). Summers and winters have gone o\-er his head, but never 

 a waking hour in wdiich he has not climbed and tumbled in this worse 

 than Svsiphasan task of gleaning nits and eggs and grubs from the never- 

 ending bark. Why, it gets upon the nerves ! I pray }'ou think, has not 

 this animate brow'U spot traveled more relati\-e miles of ridgy brown bark 

 in his wee lifetime than ever mariner on billowy sea! W'ork, work, work! 

 With the industry of an Oriental he seeks to shame the rollicking caprice 

 of Chickadee, and to be a "living example" to such spendthrifts as Goldikins, 

 the Kinglet. 



But wait ! I am not sure. Could anyone live in these majestic forests, 

 could anyone breathe this incense of perpetual balsam, could anyone mount 

 triumphantly these aspiring tree-boles, way, way up into the blue, without 

 growing the soul of a poet? Hark! "Teiv, tczvy, tczvy, Ping, tczvy," — an 



