CREEPERS 451 



most unfrog-like, having the tinkling machine-made quality of a 

 music-box. 



Like the house wrens they sing all over, and sometimes as they 

 cling to a tule stem bend almost double, comically swaying from side 

 to side. 



Their big globular nests make conspicuous objects hung on the 

 tule stems, and a walk among them with the birds singing at you as 

 well as around you is an experience quite to a bird-lover's heart. 



While the tule swamps are their breeding grounds, in fall and win- 

 ter they are found in weed patches and rank grass. 



725c. C. p. plesius Oberh. INTERIOR TULE WREN. 



Like palustris, but upper parts paler, under parts grayer, middle tail 

 feathers heavily barred, and upper and lower tail coverts barred ; paler and 

 more sharply barred than paludicola. Wing: 2.06, tail 1.82, bill .50. 



Distribution. From British Columbia and Alberta east of the Pacific 

 coast district south to Mexico ; east to the Rocky Mountains and Texas ; 

 breeds nearly throughout its range and winters from Oregon southward. 



FAMILY CERTHIIDJE: CREEPERS. 



GENUS CERTHIA. 



General Characters. Bill slender, sharp, and 

 decurved ; tail rounded, equal to or longer than 

 wing, of rigid, sharp-pointed feathers ; tarsus 

 Fig. 575. scaled ; claws greatly curved, and sharp. Fi K- 576. 



KEY TO CERTHIA. 



1. Upper parts grayish. Rocky Mountains . . . * . montana, p. 451. 

 1'. Upper parts brownish or dusky. 



2. Upper parts rusty brown. Pacific coast from California to Sitka. 



occidentalis, p. 452. 

 2'. Upper parts not rusty brown. 



3. Upper parts dark brown. Arizona and southward. 



albescens, p. 451. 

 3'. Upper parts dusky anteriorly. Sierra Nevada and Cascades. 



zelotes, p. 452. 



726a. Certhia familiaris albescens (Berlepsch). MEXICAN 

 CREEPER. 



Upper parts dark brown, becoming deep rusty on rump ; under parts 

 brownish gray, white only on throat ; flanks dark rusty. Length : 4.80- 

 5.60, wing 2.55-2.60, tail 2.65, bill .70-.73. 



Distribution. From southern Arizona south through Sierra Madre of 

 northwestern Mexico. 



Nest. Behind loosened bark or in similar openings, about stumps or 

 dead tree trunks, made of felted materials and feathers. Eggs : 5 to 9, 

 white, spotted chiefly on or around larger end with reddish brown. 



Food. Insects, and their eggs and larvae. 



726b. C. f. montana Ridgw. ROCKY MOUNTAIN CREEPER. 



Upper parts grayish, head and back streaked conspicuously with white ; 

 rump tawny. Wing : 2.50, tail 2.71, bill .75. 



Distribution. Rocky Mountains from New Mexico north to Alaska. 



