Brewster on the American Brown Creeper. 203 



imperfections of our past records well attest how closely the secret 

 has been kept from man, nor is it probable that the predatory birds 

 or mammals are often inore successful. Even should a Jay or 

 Squirrel succeed in discovering the presence of such a nest, they 

 would be unable to enter through the narrow crevice used by the 

 Creeper, and it is not likely that either their patience or strength 

 would endure to tear out the sticks and other materials of the sub- 

 structure from below, and thus obtain possession of the coveted eggs 

 or young. Yet, now that the secret is out, the very peculiarity of 

 its position renders this nest a singularly easy one to find. After 

 taking my first specimen I experienced little difficulty in recognizing 

 a " Creeper tree" — as my guide got to calling them — almost at 

 a glance. 



The eggs of the Brown Creeper have been described so well 

 already that it seems unnecessary to enter into further details here. 

 My specimens show only a very limited range of variation, and this 

 chiefly in regard to size, for the shape and markings of the different 

 examples are quite uniform. As Dr. Brewer suspected, the grayish 

 ground-color is peculiar to specimens far advanced in incubation. 

 The freshly laid egg is tinged with that delicate fleshy hue found in 

 several other eggs of thin shells and sparse markings. With the 

 removal of the contents, however, this tint always vanishes, leaving 

 the shell of pure, almost crystalline whiteness. 



The following concise record of all the nests taken during the 

 season of 1879 will illustrate the somewhat variable times at 

 which the different sets of eggs were deposited : May 31, nest with 

 set of six eggs, incubation about five days ; June 5, nest with six 

 eggs, incubation about six days ; June 1 4, nest with five young, which 

 were perhaps a week old; June 19, nest with four fresh eggs, — 

 a complete set, as the bird laid no additional ones, although left 

 unmolested for two days longer. This clutch may possibly have 

 been a second laying by the pair robbed on May 31, as the site was 

 only a few hundred yards distant. June 23, nest with four fresh 

 eggs, locality several miles away from that of any of the preceding. 



With respect to their general plan of construction, all of the eight 

 nests which I have examined were essentially similar. Indeed, the 

 uniform character of the nesting-sites chosen by the different pairs 

 of birds was not a little remarkable. Thus, in every single instance 

 that came under my observation, the nest was placed on a balsam 

 fir, though spruce, birch, or elm stubs were often much more numer- 



