58 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



nest, Dr. Thomas M. Brewer (1879) published an article in the spring 



of 1879 in which he says : 



In "North American Birds" [i. e., Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 1874] it is 

 said to breed in hollow trees, in the deserted holes of Woodpeckers, and In 

 decayed stumps and branches of trees. This statement is rather legendary than 

 positively ascertained, and I am now inclined to somewhat modify this opinion, 

 the more so that I learn from Mr. Dresser that the European C. familiaris 

 usually places its nest between the detached bark and the trunk of a large 

 tree. This exactly describes the situation of the nest found in Grand Menan, 

 and of six or seven other nests since identified and described to me. All of 

 these nests have been in just such situations and in no other. Instead of this 

 being exceptional, it is probable that this is our Creeper's most usual mode 

 of nesting, and that this is one of several reasons that unite to make this nest 

 one so rarely discovered. 



The hint contained in this article aroused the interest of William 

 Brewster (1879), who, in the following spring, searched the region 

 of Lake Umbagog, Maine, for creepers^ nests and in the fall published 

 an account of his investigations. "During former seasons," he says, 

 "1 had wasted much valuable time in sounding old Woodpecker's 

 holes and natural cavities about places where the birds were evidently 

 nesting; but, with the right clew at last in my possession, I succeeded 

 on this occasion in finding quite a number of nests." The following 

 description of a nest is a good example of those he found : 



The tree selected was a tall dead fir, that stood in the shallow water just 

 outside the edge of the living forest, but surrounded by numbers of its equally 

 unfortunate companions. Originally killed by inundation, its branches had long 

 ago yielded to the fury of the winter storms, and the various destroying agents 

 of time had stripped off the greater part of the bark until only a few persistent 

 scales remained to chequer the otherwise smooth, mast-like stem. One of these, 

 in process of detachment, had started away from the trunk below, while its 

 upper edges still retained a comparatively firm hold, and within the space thus 

 formed the cunning little architect had constructed her nest. The whole width 

 of the opening had first been filled with a mass of tough but slender twigs (many 

 of them at least 6 inches in length), and upon this foundation the nest proper 

 had been constructed. It was mainly composed of the fine inner bark of various 

 trees, with an admixture of a little Vsnea moss and a number of spiders' cocoons. 

 The whole mass was firmly but rather loosely put together, the different particles 

 retaining their proper position more from the adhesion of their rough surfaces 

 than by reason of any special arrangement or interweaving. The general shape 

 of the structure necessarily conformed nearly with that of the space within 

 which it was placed, but a remarkable feature was presented by the disposition 

 of the lateral extremities. These were carried upward to a height of several 

 inches above the middle of the nest, ending in long narrow points or h5rns, 

 which gave to the whole somewhat the shape of a well-filled crescent. In the 

 centre or lowest part of the sag thus formed was the depression for the reception 

 of the eggs— an exceedingly neat, cup-shaped hollow, bordered by strips of soft, 

 flesh-colored bark and lined with feathers from Ducks and other wild birds. 

 The whole was fastened to the concave inner surface of the bark-scale rather 

 than to the tree itself, so that when the former was detached it readily came 

 ofC with it. * * * 



