1130 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



'Brown Creeper; taken near Golden Lake, Steuben County, Indiana. 

 Xest in crevice, where the bark had started from a dead tree, about 4 

 feet from the ground, in a swampy tract in "Crane Town.'' Xest com- 

 posed of sticks, bark and feathers. Six eggs, beauties. Incubation 

 commenced. Embryos half developed/ I have a very distinct recol- 

 lection of the matter. The 'Crane Town' referred to in the matter 

 is a heronry which we were exploring. The water was high, and we 

 were in a boat. I placed my hand against a tree to push the boat past 

 it, when the bird flew off the nest, which was within a few inches of 

 my hand. The bird remained near me until after I had secured the 

 eggs and examined the nest. The appearance and characteristics of 

 the Brown Creeper are so marked that it could hardly be mistaken 

 for any other bir.d. I could not possibly be mistaken in its identifica- 

 tion. In addition to this, the location and construction of the nest 

 and the eggs themselves are all typical and characteristic. 



"Another nest and set of eggs were taken in May, 1883, at Fox Lake, 

 near Angola, by my sons, Charles H. and Herbert W. The identifica- 

 tion in this ease was as satisfactory and unmistakable as in the other. 

 Since that time, while I have frequently seen them during the breed- 

 ing season, both in Steuben and Dekalb counties, I have found no 

 other nests." 



Mr. H. W. McBride thinks it also breeds in Dekalb County. It has 

 been found breeding in about the same latitude in Monroe County, 

 Mich. (Cook, B. of M., p. 145), and Mr. Otto Widmann found its nest 

 and eggs in Missouri, the spring of 1895. 



It has been found, in winter, tolerably regularly in the following 

 counties of southern Indiana: Franklin, Decatur, Brown, Monroe and 

 Knox. Some winters it is found also in Tippecanoe, Carroll and Wa- 

 bash counties. The winter of 1896-7 they remained in the vicinity 

 of Chicago and were reported from Kouts and Miller's, Ind.. by Mr. 

 J. G. Parker, Jr., and they remained the winter of 1889-90 at Sedan, 

 Dekalb County, where they were observed by Mrs. Jane L. Hine. 

 They also have been noted in Michigan at all seasons (Cook. B. of M., 

 p. 145). 



Their principal food is insects, particularly those species affecting 

 the trunks of trees. Among other things, they have been found to 

 have eaten beetles, bugs, other insects, spiders, pine seeds and fungi. 



