CALIFORNIA CREEPER 77 



such as Oregon and chestnut-backed chickadees, western golden- 

 crowned kinglets, and Audubon's warblers. It was a large tract of 

 smooth, level, prairielike country that supported a fine open growth 

 of large cedars, two or three species of firs, and a few scattering oaks. 



Ridgway (1904) called this the tawny creeper, an appropriate name, 

 also used by others. He says that it is "similar to G. f. zelotes, but 

 browner and more suffused with tawny above; wing-markings more 

 pronouncedly buff; under parts more buffy (about as in G. f. 

 americana) ." 



Nesting. — In the locality referred to above, near South Tacoma, 

 Mr. Brown showed me a new nest of the California creeper, which he 

 had found building ; it was not over 3 feet from the gromid, under a 

 piece of hanging bark on a small, dead oak. This is the locality in 

 which J. H. Bowles tried his interesting and successful experiment 

 of providing artificial nesting sites for these birds. As he (1922) says, 

 he "selected trees with very smooth bark, or else cut the bark down 

 smooth, and nailed against them bark shelters 15 inches or more in 

 length, and 3 or 4 inches in width, leaving a space inside of about 3 

 inches between the bark and the tree. This inside space will, of course, 

 be tapering towards the bottom, but creepers require a considerable 

 depth for their nests, which are started by a large foundation of 

 twigs, on top of which is built the nestcup of soft bark, feathers, etc." 



Prof. Gordon D. Alcorn (MS.) adds the following specifications: 

 "This bark nailed at a convenient height against a vertical tree was 

 furnished with a leaning bark roof and bark floor. With a pocket 

 knife we carved an entrance on each side immediately beneath the 

 roof. The creepers apparently did not care whether the site was 

 natural or not, but they did appear to be rather particular about the 

 entrances. They demanded two. If but one was present, the birds 

 rejected our offering." 



Dawson (1923) says that "from a line of, say, 35 or 40 traps he 

 gathers an annual vintage of 5 or 6 sets of creepers' eggs. It is only 

 fair to add that the birds profit in the long run by this arrangement 

 for they are allowed to raise second broods undisturbed throughout 

 an area which offers no other shelter." 



Mr. Bowles writes elsewhere (1908) : 



Nest building commences about the third week in April, either an oak or a fir 

 being selected for the pui-pose. The only exception I have ever known to this 

 was one bird that I had watched until it disappeared under a strip of bark fully 

 60 feet up in a giant cedar. * * * The nest is placed, as a rule, from 2 to 20 

 feet above the ground, tho tbe majority that I have seen were under 10 feet. 

 * * * In its composition the nest has a groundwork of twigs, the size of which 

 depends entirely on the dimensions of the space between the bark and the main 

 trunk of the tree. Sometimes only a scant handful is sufficient, while in one 

 nest the twigs would have filled a quart measure to overflowing. Slender dead 

 fir twigs, from 4 to 8 inches long, are almost invariably used, and this must fre- 



