DIBKCTORY TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 5277 



S. CREEPERS. Certhiidae. 



Small, slender-billed birds with broad, long wings, large, 

 strong feet fitted for creeping about trees. 



a. Tree Creepers. Certhia. 



Bill, long and strongly curved; tail, long, with pointed, 

 stiffened feathers. Nests, behind strips of loosened bark ; 

 eggs, spotted. 



1. BROWN CREEPER, C. Americana. 5.50; brown 

 above streaked with white ; rump, rusty ; dull, silky-white be- 



neath, fig. 370. Breeds in 

 eastern N. A. from Mass. 

 north Into the British Pro- 

 vinces, also south along the 

 higher mountains to N. C. ; 

 south in winter to northern 

 Fla. ; s o u t h in Oct. ; north 

 in April. Frequents open 

 ■woodlands, groves, and or- 

 namental trees everywhere. 

 Creeps spirally up trees 

 then drops to the base of ei- 

 ther the same tree or anoth- 



Fig. 370. 



CC, S, a, 1. 



er to reascend. Usual note, a thin, sharp lisp; also a crack- 

 ling cry and a rather unusual silvery, tinkling song. 



T. NUTHATCHES. SHtidae. 



Small birds with straight bills, long wings, short tails 

 and large feet; fitted for climbing trees ; descend head down- 

 ward. Nests, in cavities usually excavated by the birds; 

 eggs, white spotted. 



a. Nuthatches. Sitta. 



Characters as above. 



1. WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH, S. carolinensis. 

 6.00; bluish-gray above; top of head and hind neck, black; 

 beneath, white; chestnut on under tail coverts; excepting 



