BROWN CREEPER. 387 



BROWN CREEPER. 



CeRTHIA FAMILIARIS AMERICANA. 



Char. Above, grayish brown, each feather streaked with dull white ; 

 rump rufous ; wings with a band of buffy white ; beneath, dull white or 

 pale gray. Length about 5^ inches. 



A't'st. In deep woods, placed behind a sliver of loose bark on a 

 decayed tree or stub ; made of shreds of bark and usnea moss firmly 

 interwoven and set on a platform of twigs. It is sometimes lined with 

 feathers. 



Sggs. 4-8 ; white or creamy, — when freshly laid, tinted with pale 

 roseate, — spotted with reddish brown ; 0.60 X 0.50. 



This industrious forager for insects, chiefly dwelling in the 

 seclusion of the forest, is but seldom seen in the summer ; but 

 on the approach of winter, with other hungry wanderers of 

 similar habits such as the small Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, 

 it makes its appearance on the wooded skirts of the village, 

 particularly among the pine-trees, and occasionally becomes 

 familiar enough to pay a passing visit to the orchard. In this 

 country, however, the species is neither common nor familiar, 

 nor is it more abundant in the Northern than the Middle 

 States, though its breeding range extends from Pennsylvania to 

 Newfoundland. 



The bill of the Creeper not being of sufficient strength to 

 probe the wood, it rests contented with examining the crevices 

 of the bark for insects and their eggs, proceeding leisurely 

 upwards or downwards in straight or spiral lines towards the 

 top of the tree, dodging dexterously to the opposite side from 

 the observer, and only resuming its occupation when assured 

 of solitude and safety. While thus employed it utters at short 

 intervals a sharp, quick, rather grating note, by which its resort 

 may be discovered, though it requires some time and a good 

 eye to perceive it if on the upper branches of a tall tree. 

 Though it lives chiefly on insects, it also, according to Wilson, 

 collects the seeds of the pine for food, and is particularly fond 

 of the vermin which prey on those kinds of trees. In the 

 thick forests which it inhabits in the Northern and Western 



