OF NEW ENGLAND. 97 



birds active, and also expert fly-catchers, and speaks of their 

 mellow tweet, uttered when they are on wing, or when fluttering 

 before clusters of leaves. Wilson has written of the first 

 specimen that he obtained that " it was hunting nimbly among 

 the young leaves, and like all the rest of the family of Worm- 

 eaters, seemed to partake a good deal of the habits of the 

 Titmouse." 



(d). "Its notes were few and weak." "Its song bears a 

 resemblance to that of H. ruficapilla, only the notes of the 

 first part are more divided, and the latter part is shriller. The 

 male, while singing, is generally perched on some high dead 

 branch. In this habit it resembles the H. ruficapilla and H. 

 cJirysoptera." (Maynard.) "Its notes resemble the low, sub- 

 dued whistle of the common summer Yellow-bird." (Board- 

 man.) 



v 



VII. MNIOTILTA 



(A) VARIA. Black and White " Creeper." 



(A common summer-resident in southern New England, 

 though rarer further to the northward.) 



(a). Five or more inches long. Belly white. Otherwise 

 black. Wings barred, tail spotted, and other parts streaked, 

 with white. But 9 white beneath (obsoletely) streaked on 

 the sides. (Details omitted.) 



(6). The nest is built in woods and groves, and is placed on 

 the ground (rarely, in the hole of a tree). The eggs average 

 *65X'55 of an inch; are elliptical; and are white (cream- 

 tinted), covered with small and rather dark brown blotches 

 and spots, chiefly at the great end, or evenly sprinkled with 

 small light reddish-brown markings. One set of four or five 

 is here laid in the last week of May (sometimes earlier or later), 

 and occasionally a second when the season is more advanced. 



(c). The Black and White "Creepers" are very common 

 summer-residents throughout southern New England, though 

 rare in the more northern portions, where in many large tracts 

 even of wooded land the}' are not to be found at all. They 

 reach Eastern Massachusetts, sometimes as early as the last 

 8 



