NUTHATCHES AND CREEPERS 



199 



NUTHATCHES AND CREEPERS 



Order Passcrcs: suborder Osciiics: families Siitidcc and Ccrthiida: 



UTHATCHES are small birds which are ranked as Osciiics, that is " song 

 birds," by the ornithologist, because they have vocal organs, though none 

 are real singers. The characteristic Nuthatch has a straight bill, nearly as 

 long as its head; long and rather pointed wings; and tail from much less than 

 to a little more than half as long as the wing, rounded at the tip. They are 

 generally plain bluish-gray or brownish-gray above, and white, buff, or brownish 

 beneath. In general structure and habits they occupy an intermediate posi- 

 tion between the Creepers, and the Titmice, but they differ much from the 

 latter in being perhaps the most expert climbers among birds, as they run 

 nimbly up and down the trunk of a tree or the face of a cliff or stone wall, 

 often head downward, which the Woodpeckers and Creepers are unable to do. 



The family comprises nearly 40 known species and subspecies. The family is chiefly an 



Old World one, only four species being represented in America. 



The Creepers are found in the northern hemisphere and in Australia. There are five 



families; but only one, the Ccrtliiidcr, is represented in America. 



BROWN CREEPER 



Certhia familiaris americana Bonaparte 



A. O. U. Number 7j6 See Color Plate ic 



Other Names. — Common Creeper : .American 

 Creeper: .American Brown Creeper; Tree Creeper; 

 Little Brown Creeper. 



General Description. — Length. 53.4 inches. Upper 

 parts, brown with streaks of grayish-white; under 

 parts, dull white. Bill, slender, sharp, and curved 

 downward ; wings, moderate in length, rounded ; tail, 

 about length of wing, graduated, the feathers with 

 rigid and sharp tips. 



Color. — General color above, sepia or bister-brown 

 (varying in intensity) relieved by conspicuous streaks 

 of dull grayish-white, these broader and less sharply 

 defined on the back, the prevailing color of the lower 

 back being pale brownish-gray or grayish-brown; rump, 

 russet or dull tawny-ochraceous ; upper tail-coverts, 

 pale raw umber-brown; tail, pale grayish-brown (nearly 

 hair-brown); lesser wing-coverts pale brownish-gray; 

 rest of wings, mainly dark sepia brown or dusky; the 

 outer webs of greater coverts, broadly tipped with 

 whitish and broadly edged toward base with pale bufTy 

 grayish ; primaries crossed, obliquely, on both webs by 



a broad band of pale buff or buflfy white; a dull whitish 

 or pale brownish-gray strip over the eye ; lores and 

 car region dark sepia brown, streaked with dull whitish ; 

 space under the eyes, cheeks, and under parts, plain dull 

 white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A collection of twigs, 

 cottony fibers, bark strips and feathers, placed behind 

 a loosened section of bark, nearly always in a balsam 

 fir tree. Eggs: 5 to 8, white or creamy freckled with 

 cinnamon and lavender specks, often wreathed around 

 large end. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America ; north to 

 Ontario. Manitoba, etc. (probably to southern Labrador 

 and southwestern shores of Hudson Bay), west to 

 eastern portion of the Great Plains; breeding south- 

 ward to Massachusetts, New York, northern Indiana, 

 southeastern South Dakota, and southeastern Missouri 

 and along higher Alleghenies to mountains of North 

 Carolina (above 4000 feet) ; wintering over a large part 

 of its breeding range and sontli to northern F'lorida 

 and central Texas. 



This is a rather characterless and uninterest- 

 ing l)ird, with neutral plumage and somewhat 

 monotonous habits. Alighting near the base of 

 a tree, it hitches its way upward, generally in 

 a spiral course, examining the crevices in the 

 bark with its long, slender, and curved bill, and 

 uttering meanwhile a faint lisping call. Its bill 



is so weak that it does not attempt actually to dig, 

 as do the Woodpeckers ; it simply searches for 

 insects concealed in crevices or tinderneath the 

 bark which becomes separated from the main 

 growth. 



The Tree Creeper somewliat resembles the 

 yutbatcbes in its habits, but climbs only up- 



