64 JVESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



its method of nidification is the same. The eggs are five or six 

 in number, pinkish-white, dotted with reddish. Average spe- 

 cimens would not be distinguishable with certainty from those 

 of ^S'. canadensis., but appear I'ather narrower, measuring about 

 .62 by .48. The young are seen first in June ; and from the 

 circinnstance of finding newly-feathered birds much later in the 

 summer. Dr. Coues presumes that two broods are raised each 

 season, which statement is fullv sul)stantiated bv Mr. Ilenrv 

 Hensliaw. Capt. Bendire adds, that in eastern Oregon the 

 hole in the tree is usually partl\- filled with small sticks, and on 

 these the nest of fine strips of juniper bark, lined with feathers, 

 is placed. Some one else has asserted that onlv dust and chips, 

 in the bottom of the hole, form a bedding for the eggs. This 

 ma\- vary with latitude and altitude. 



42. THE BROWN TREE-CREEPER. 

 CERTIIIA FAMILIARIS Vicillot. 



'I'his shy, gentle, little bird is the same as the European 

 creeper. In England it nests, generallv speaking, in a hole in 

 a tree, with only a very minute aperture. Rarely the nest is 

 outside the tree, but screened from observation bv a casual dis- 

 lodgment of bark, or in some similar wav. Our creeper is 

 found in the forests over all of North America. Its migrations 

 are limited, and accordingly it is one of the first birds to appear 

 in the spring, and to get about its family duties. Wilson speaks 

 of h;!ving known the female to begin t<j lav bv April 1^. but 

 does not mention the locality to which he refers. The most 

 southern point of which I have positive knowledge of Its breed- 

 ing is Trenton. N. J. No doubt the heights of the Alleghanies 

 ma}- prove a means of extending its southward residence in 

 the interior, as they do that of many other birds. It inhabits 

 the loftier plateaus of the Rocky mountains, w'here its presence 

 and the situation of its nest are often disclosed by its " thin, wiry, 

 long-drawn note." At Mount Graham, Arizona, Henshaw 

 found _\-oung still in their first plumage as late as Aug. 3, and. 



