68 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



(d). The only note of the Red-bellied Nuthatch is an un- 

 musical sound, like the word "ank," which, says Mr. Maynard, 

 is repeated more deliberately and less querulously in the breed- 

 ing-season than at other times ; a fact, which I also have 

 noticed. It is, however, varied considerably in pitch at all 

 times of the year. 



6. Certhiidse. Creepers. (See 4.) 

 I. CERTHIA 



(A) FAMiLiARis. 17 Brown Creeper. 



(In Eastern Massachusetts very rare in summer, but common 

 in winter.) 



(a). About 5 inches long. Bill slender and decurved ; tail- 

 feathers rigid and acuminate (as in other Certhiince). Below, 

 white. Tail unmarked. Other upper parts curiously and finely 

 marked with several browns and whitish. 



(&). Wilson says that " the Brown Creeper builds his nest 

 in the hollow trunk or branch of a tree, where the tree has 

 been shivered, or a limb broken off, or where squirrels or 

 Woodpeckers have wrought out an entrance, for nature has not 

 provided him with the means of excavating one for himself." 

 Mr. Gregg (in a Catalogue of the Birds of Chemung County, 

 New York) says that u the nest of this species is built of dry 

 twigs attached to the sides of some perpendicular object ;". and 

 that he " discovered one on the attic of a deserted log house ; 

 the nest rested upon the inner projection of the gable clap- 

 board, and was cemented together with a gummy or gelatinous 

 substance." The only nest that I have found in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston was a few feet from the ground, placed in the 

 cavity formed by the rending of a tree by lightning. The 

 eggs, which were fresh on the twentieth day of May, were 

 grayish-white, speckled with reddish-brown, chiefly at the 

 larger end, and measured about -60X*50 of an inch. A nest, 

 containing young, found in a New Hampshire forest, was much 

 like one found " in a large elm in Court Square, Springfield, 



17 Once called Americana and "American Creeper." 



