DISTRIBUTION OF THE AMERICAN CREEPER 147 



over, specimens from different parts of North America vary among themselves 

 quite as much as some of them do from European examples. The length of 

 the tail, by which it has been said Cfamillaris is " at once separated", is a 

 particularly variable feature, having a range of variation of nearly or about 

 half an inch, and being sometimes shorter, though usually longer, than the 

 tail. Its length depends in a degree upon the age and "wear" of the feathers, 

 which are constantly pressed against the rough bark of trees. The shades 

 of the several brown and rusty markings, particularly those of the rump and 

 crissum, are likewise subject to much variation, not only with sex and age 

 and locality, but as a matter of individual ijeculiarity. The best European 

 authorities have united the several supposed species of their Creeper, and 

 generally consider ours as not different. The var. mexicana appears to be 

 better marked in its darker and richer coloration. This is a Central Ameri- 

 can and Mexican form, which has never been shown to occur in the United 

 States, unless the Texas record above quoted invalidates this statement ; 

 for the several Californian references to C. " mesicana" really belong to the 

 common form. 



SOME insight into the Creepers' mode of life has been given 

 in sketching the leading features of the genus ; it remains 

 to be more explicit respecting the particular species which 

 inhabits the Colorado Valley as well as most other portions of 

 North America. I am not aware that the northern limit of its 

 distribution has been accurately determined. Dr. Brewer speaks 

 of its extension " to high northern latitudes ", yet the authors 

 of the Fauna BoreaU-Americana had nothing to say of the bird. 

 The character of the arboreal vegetation i)robabl3' determines 

 its northerly dispersion, since it is strongly attached to wood- 

 land of large growth. But it is known to extend into the 

 British Provinces : Newfoundland and Lake Winnepeg are two 

 of the most northerly localities I find mentioned by writers in 

 this connection. Its distribution in the United States is general 

 in all suitable places ; there are scarcely any of our faunistic 

 lists of any considerable pretensions to completeness in which 

 its name does not occur. Yet it does not appear to have been 

 found in Florida by Allen, a circumstance corroborating Audu- 

 bon's statement that in some portions of that State alone he 

 had never observed it. It is a common inhabitant of suitable 

 •regions throughout the Colorado water-shed. 



The leading trait of the Brown Creeper is its extraordinary 

 industry — the "incomparable assiduity", as it has been well 

 styled, with which it works for a living. Like all good workers, 

 the Creeper makes no fuss about it, but just sticks to it. So 

 quietly, yet with such celerity, does it go about its business 

 that it scarcely seems to be at work, but rather to be rambling 



