OF NEW ENGLAND. 97 
birds active, and also expert fly-catchers, and speaks of their 
mellow tweet, uttered when they are on wing, or when fluttering 
before clusters of leaves. Wilson has written of the first 
specimen that he obtained that ‘‘it was hunting nimbly among 
the young leaves, and like all the rest of the family of Worm- 
eaters, seemed to partake a good deal of the habits of the 
Titmouse.” 
(d). “Its notes were few and weak.” ‘Its song bears a 
resemblance to that of H. ruficapilla, only the notes of the 
first part are more divided, and the latter part is shriller. The 
male, while singing, is generally perched on some high dead 
branch. In this habit it resembles the H. rujicapilla and H. 
chrysoptera.” (Maynard.) ‘‘Its notes resemble the low, sub- 
dued whistle of the common summer Yellow-bird.” (Board- 
man.) 
VII. MNIOTILTA 
(A) varia. Black and White ** Creeper.” 
(A common summer-resident in southern New England, 
though rarer further to the northward.) 
(a). Five or more inches long. Belly white. Otherwise 
black. Wings barred, tail spotted, and other parts streaked, 
with white. But 9 white beneath (obsoletely) streaked on 
the sides. (Details omitted.) 
(>). The nest is built in woods and groves, and is placed on 
the ground (rarely, in the hole of a tree). The eggs average 
*65X°55 of an inch; are elliptical; and are white (cream- 
tinted), covered with small and rather dark brown blotches 
and spots, chiefly at the great end, or evenly sprinkled with 
small light reddish-brown markings. One set of four or five 
is here laid in the last week of May (sometimes earlier or later), 
and occasionally a second when the season is more advanced. 
(c). The Black and White ‘‘ Creepers” are very common 
summer-residents throughout southern New England, though 
rare in the more northern portions, where in many. large tracts 
even of wooded land they are not to be found at all. They 
reach Eastern Massachusetts, sometimes as early as the last 
8 
