a 
190 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Famity CERTHIIADA. Tue CREEPERS. 
First primary very short, less than half the second; outer lateral toe much 
longest; hind toe exceeding both the middle toe and the tarsus, which is scutellate 
anteriorly, and very short; bill slender, as long as, or longer than, the head, much 
compressed and greatly decurved; gonys concave, without any notch; entire basal 
joint of the middle toes united to the lateral, the feathers stiffened at the tips; tail 
long, cuneate. 
CERTHIA, Linn vs. 
Certhia, Linnxus, Syst. Nat., 1735 (Gray). (Type C. familaris.) 
Bill as long as the head, slender, much compressed and decurved from the base, 
without notch or rictal bristles; tarsi distinctly scutellate, very short, not longer than 
the outer lateral toes, which much exceeds the inner, reaching nearly as far as the 
middle toe; hind toe longer than the middle one, its claw more than half the total 
length; claws all very long and acute; tail rather longer than the wings, arched or 
vaulted, graduated or cuneate; the feathers very acute at the tips, the shafts stiff- 
ened; first primary rather more than one-third the fourth or longest one; color 
above brown, streaked with white, beneath white. 
CERTHIA AMERICANA. — Bonaparte. 
The American Creeper. 
Certhia Americana, Bonaparte. Consp. List (1838). 
Certhia familiaris, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 122. Aud. Orn. Biog., V. 
(1839) 158. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bill about the length of the head; above dark-brown, with a slightly rufous 
shade, each feather streaked centrally, but not abruptly, with whitish; rump rusty; 
beneath almost silky-white; the under tail coverts with a faint rusty tinge; a white 
streak over the eye; the ear coverts streaked with whitish; tail feathers brown cen- 
trally, the edges paler yellowish-brown; wings with a transverse bar of pale reddish- 
white across both webs. 
Length, about five and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and sixty one- 
hundredths inches; tail, two and ninety one-hundredths inches. 
Hab. —North America generally. 
HIS species is a resident of the three southern New- 
England States through the year: in the other States, 
it is not a common summer visitor. It arrives from the 
South about the middle of April, and, on pairing, com- 
mences building about the second week in May. The nest 
