250 THE BROWN CREEPER. 



No. 109. 



BROWN CREEPER. 



A. O. U. No. 726. Certhia familiaris americanus (Bonap.). 



Description. Adults: Above, dark brown, broadly and loosely streaked 

 with ashy white ; more finely and narrowly streaked on crown ; rump bright cinna- 

 mon ; wing-quills crossed by two whitish bars, one on both webs near base, the 

 other on outer webs alone; greater coverts, secondaries, and tertials tipped with 

 white; tail fuscous, slightly decurved, open W-shaped at end, of elastic, acumi- 

 nate feathers ; below, soiled white, sometimes tinged with tawny on flanks and 

 crissum; bill slender, decurved. Length, 5.00-5.75 (i27.-i46.i) ; average of five 

 Columbus specimens: wing 2.54 (64.5) ; tail 2.22 (56.4) ; bill .56 (14.2). Female 

 averages a little smaller than male. 



Recognition Marks. Warbler size; singularly variegated in modest colors 

 above; the only brown creeper. 



Nesting. Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, of twigs, bark-strips, moss, 

 etc., crowded behind a warping scale of bark. Eggs, 5-8, white or creamy- white, 

 speckled and spotted with cinnamon-brown or hazel, chiefly in wreath about larger 

 end. Average size, .61x47 (15.5x11.9). 



General Range. Eastern North America, breeding from the northern and 

 more elevated parts of the United States northward, and casually further south ; 

 migrating southward in winter. 



Range in Ohio. Common fall and spring migrant. Winter resident in cen- 

 ancl southern portions; found less commonly, or casually, in northern Ohio in 

 winter. 



DEAR, patient, plodding mortal! How we wish it were in our power 

 to relieve him, if but for an hour, of the endless monotony of tree-climb- 

 ing! But, no; he has scarcely reached the main branches of one tree-trunk 

 when he lets go "like a bit of loosened bark," and brings up punctually at 

 the base of another. With now and then a plaintive chip which is little bet- 

 ter than a sigh, he hitches along the bark, winding spirally up the tree, 

 and pausing at the end of every jerk to inspect the crevices for insects and 

 their larvae. Little attention is paid to man's presence and, indeed, the 

 bird seems scarcely to indulge a thought above his task. Work, work, work, 

 while Titmouse is plotting mischief, and Chickadee is turning somersaults, 

 this unimaginative clerk is adding up his endless columns and telling off the 

 digits in a wiry, piping voice. 



The Creeper knows that he is a near-sighted fellow, but he is sharp enough 

 to depend on the wits of others. When the winter troop is ranging freely 

 he follows close and pipes shrilly, "Wait for me, wait for me," if he thinks 

 the bigger children are trying to give him the slip. I have watched a pair 

 of them tagging a Nuthatch about from tree to tree as faithfully as a brace 

 of poodles. 



