272 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 
Size of the last. Young: Differs much as the 2 of canadensis does from the g, in having the 
top of the head like the back. U.S. from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, abundant, chiefly in 
pine woods; N. to Vancouver. Eggs 6-7, ae ae speckled with reddish, 0.62 x 0.50. 
5. Family CERTHIIDZ: Creepers. 
A very small, well-marked group, of about a dozen species, and four or five genera, which 
fall in two sections, commonly called subfamilies ; one of these, Zichodromine, is represented 
by the well-known European Wall Creeper, Tichodroma muraria, and several (chiefly Aus- 
tralian) species of the genus Climacteris; while the genus Certhia, with five or six species or 
varieties, and certain allied genera (all but one Old World) constitute the 
Sy) 
fie. 145.— Common Brown Creeper, Certhia familiaris, nearly nat. size. (From Brehm.) 
8. Subfamily CERTHIINA: Typical Creepers. 
Our species may be known on sight, among North American Oscines, by its rigid, acumi- 
mate tail-feathers, like a woodpecker’s. Besides: — bill about equal in length to head, ex- 
tremely slender, sharp, and decurved; nostrils exposed; no rictal bristles; tarsus scutellate, 
shorter than 3d toe and claw, which is connate for the whole of the 1st joint with both 2d and 
4th toe; lateral toes of unequal lengths, 1st toe shorter than its claw; claws all much curved 
and very sharp; wing 10-primaried, the lst primary very short, not one-half the 2d, which is 
less than the 3d; point of wing furmed by 3d, 4th, and 5th quills; tail rounded, equal to or 
longer than wing, of 12 stout, elastic, curved, acuminate feathers. Restless, active, little forest 
birds that make a living by picking bugs out of eracks in bark. In scrambling about they use 
the tail as woodpeckers do, and never hang head downwards, like the nuthatches. Lay numer- 
ous white, speckled eggs in knotholes; are not regularly migratory; have slight seasonal or 
sexual changes of plumage ; are chiefly insectivorous, and not noted for musical ability. 
