178 BROWN CREEPER. 



tomary scolding cack, his song, a bubbling, trickling 

 tinkle that can not be called musical, but to my mind is 

 indescribably attractive. It is often sung in the air, and 

 in marshes where Wrens are abundant bird after bird 

 may be seen springing a few feet above the reeds, sing- 

 ing his song, and then dropping back again. 



CREEPERS. (FAMILY CERTHIID^E.) 



Of the twelve known members of this family, the 

 Brown Creeper is the only one inhabiting the New 



_ World. It is a northern bird, breed- 



Brown Creeper, . . 



Certhia familiar is mg at sea level only from Maine north- 

 americana. ward, but extending southward in the 

 Alleghanies to North Carolina. Sev- 

 eral western races are found in the Rocky Mountain 

 region and Sierra Madres. Our eastern bird migrates 

 southward late in September, and from that date until 

 April it may be found from Massachusetts to Florida. 



The Creeper, like a Woodpecker, never climbs head 

 downward, but, using his stiff, pointed tail-feathers (see 

 Fig. 3 1) as a prop, winds rapidly up the trunks of trees 

 in his apparently never-ending search for insects' eggs 

 and larvse hidden in crevices in the bark. If the Wrens 

 are the most active birds, the Creeper is the most dili- 

 gent. Except when it was stopping to secure some tid- 

 bit, I can not remember seeing a Creeper resting. He 

 usually begins at the base of a tree and climbs in a seri- 

 ous, intent way for a certain distance, and then, without 

 a moment's pause, drops down to the bottom of the next 

 tree and continues his search. 



The Creeper's only notes while with us are a thin, 

 fine squeak ; but Mr. Brewster tells us that during the 

 nesting season he has an exquisitely tender song of four 

 notes. 



