280 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PASSERES—OSCINES. 



C. familia'ris americana. (Lat. familiaris, from familia, family ; domestic, home-like. 

 Fig. 140.) Brown Creeper. ^9'- Upper parts dark brown, changing to rusty-brown on the 

 rump, everywhere streaked mth ashy-white. An obscure whitish superciliary stripe. Under 

 parts dull whitish, sometimes tinged with rusty on flanks and crissum. Wing-coverts and 

 quills tipped with white ; inner secondaries with white shaft-lines, which, with the tips, con- 

 trast with the blackish of their outer webs. Wings also twice crossed with white or tawny- 

 white ; anterior bar broad and occupying both webs of feathers, other only on outer webs near 

 their ends. Tail grayish-brown, darker along shaft and at end of feathers, sometimes show- 

 ing obsolete transverse bars. Bill blackish above, mostly flesh-colored or yellowish below ; 

 feet brown; iris dark brown. Length of (J 5.25-5.75 ; extent 7.50-8.00 ; wing 2.50, more 

 or less ; tail usually a little longer than the wing, sometimes not so, 2.50 to nearly 3.00 ; 

 tarsus about 0.60: bill 0.65-0.75; ? averaging smaller than ^. Eggs 5-9, 0.60 X 0.45; 

 white speckled with reddish-brown, especially about the large end. Eastern N. Am., in 

 woodland; migratory to some extent, as it breeds chiefly from northerly or mountainous parts 

 of the U. S. northward, and winters chiefly further S. ; abundant, generally seen winding 

 spirally up the trunks and larger branches of trees. C. fusca Barton, Frag. N. H. Penna, 

 1799, p. 11, nee Gm., 1788. C familiaris fusca Coues, B. N. W., 1874, p. 230; A. 0. U. 

 Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 126. C familiaris of 2d-4th eds. of Key, 1884-90, p. 273. 

 C. familiaris americana, A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 726. 



C. f. monta'na. (Lat. montantis, of mountains.) Rocky Mountain Creeper. Grayer 

 above than the last, with more distinctly contrasted tawny rump, and longer bill, wings, and 

 tail. Rocky Mt. region of the U. S., including Alaska. Not recognized in any former ed. of 

 the Key. Ridgw., Proc. U. S. Nat. Mu.s., v, July, 1882, p. 114; Man., 1887, p. 558; not 

 recognized in A. 0. U. List, 1886 ; but ibid., 2d ed., 1895, No. 726 b. 



C. f. occidenta'lis. (Lat. occidentalis, of the Occident or setting sun, western.) Califorxian 

 Creeper. The darker form, from the Pacific coast region, from southern California to Alaska. 

 Not recognized in any former ed. of the Key, nor in A. 0. U. List, 1886 ; Ridgw., Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., V, 1882, p. 114 ; Man., 1887, p. 558 ; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed., 1895, No. 726 c 

 C. f. albes'cens. (Lat. albescens, somewhat white, whitish.) Mexican Creeper. Differs 

 in lacking light tips of the primary coverts, and general richer coloration, the brown more 

 rusty; rump bright chestnut; under parts grayish. Mexico, to S. W. border of the U. S., in 

 the mountains of Arizona. This is C f. mexicana of previous eds. of the Key ; but the name 

 mexicana cannot stand in this genus, as there is a prior Certhia mexicana (Gm.). See Miller, 

 Auk, Apr. 1895, p. 186, where the Mexican creeper is named Cf. alticola, the same being 

 No. 726 a of the A. 0. U. List, 2d ed., 1895 ; and Oberholser, Auk, Oct. 1896, p. 315, where 

 the same is divided into two races, the northern one, which occurs over our border, being 

 regarded as the C. m. albescens of Berlep.sch, Auk, Oct. 1888, p. 450, renamed as C f 

 albescens. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. K32. 



Family TROGLODYTID^ : Wrens; Thrashers, etc. 



Embracing a number of forms assembled in considerable variety, and diflicult to define witli 

 precision. Closely related to the last three families ; known from these by non-acuminate 

 tail-feathers and exposed nostrils. Distinguished from typical Turdine and Sylviine birds by 

 the not strictly spurious character of the 1st primary, short as it may be and generally is ; as a 

 rule, by the shortness of the rounded wings in comparison with the length of the usually 

 rounded or graduated tail ; and especially, by the distinctly scutellate instead of booted tarsi. 

 (Compare diagnoses already given of Turdidce, Sylviidce, Cinclidce ; and observe that the 

 dubious family Chamaidce is wren-like in most respects.) In former editions of the Key, the 

 Mimince or so-called Mocking "Thrushes" were brought under Turdida, as a subfamily of 



