THE TAWNY CREEPER. 297 



(Ridgway). Length of male; wing 2.44 (61.91 : tail 2.41 (61.2) ; bill .60 (15.2) ; 

 tarsus .61 (15.5). 



Recognition Marks. — .\s in prccciling: darker. 



Nesting. — Xcst: as in ])reccding; placed behind sprung bark scale usually 

 at moderate heights, 3-20 feet up (one record of 60). Inner diameter of one 

 nest 1% inches, depth 2j/>. Eggs: 5 or 6, as in C. f. zclotcs. .\\. size .58 x .47 

 (14.7x11.9). Season: Alay, June; two broods. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from Xorthern California to Sitka. 



Range in Washington. — Resident thruout the West-side from tidewater up. 



Authorities. — ? Ccrthia faiiiiliaris Orn. Com. Journ. Ac. Xat. Sci. Phila., 

 \'II. 1837. 193 (Columbia River). Ccrthia amcricana Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv.. IX. 1858, p. 372, part. (T). C&S. L'. Rh. Ra. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. t:)f \\ . Prov. PX. 



TO one who loves birds with an all inclusive passion — such as the 

 undecided bachelor is wont to confess for the fair sex — the temptation 

 to use superlatives upon each successive species as it is brought under re\iew 

 is very strong. But here ])erhaps w^e may be pardoned for relaxing our 

 attention, or, it may be, for being caught in the act of stifling a little yawn. 

 Ccrthia is a prosy drab, and all the beauty she possesses is in the eyes of her 

 little hubby — dear, devoted creature. 



This clerkling (hubby, of course, I mean) was brought into the world 

 behind a bit of bark. His first steps, or creeps, were taken along the 

 bark of the home tree. When the little wings got stronger and when 

 the little claws had carried him u]) to the top of tree number One, he 

 fluttered and spilled thru the air tmtil he pulled up somehow, with heart 

 beating fiercely, at the l)ase and i>ii Ihc bark of tree number Two. Since 

 then he has climbed an almost infinity of trees (but I dare say he has 

 kept count). Smnmers and winters ha\e gone over his head, but never 

 a waking hotn- in which he has not climbed and tmnliled in this worse 

 than Sysiphrcan task of gleaning nits and eggs and grubs from the never- 

 ending bark. Why, it gets upon the nerves! I pray you tliink, has not 

 this animate brown spot traveled more relative miles of ridgy brown bark 

 in his wee lifetime"than ever mariner on billowy sea! Work, work, work! 

 With the industry of an Oriental he seeks to shame rtie rollicking caprice 

 of Chickadee, and to be a "living example" to such spendthrifts as Goldikins, 

 the Kinglet. 



lUil wail ! I am not sure. Could anyone live in these majestic forests, 

 could anyone breathe this incense of perpetual balsam, could anyone mount 

 triumphantly these aspiring tree-boles, way, way up into the blue, without 

 growing the soul of a i)oet ? Hark ! "Tczv, tczvy, teii'y, Ping, tc'ivy." — an 



