190 Ornithology and oology. 



Family CERTHIIAD^. The Creepers. 



First primary very short, less than half the second; outer lateral toe much 

 longest; hind toe exceeding both the middle toe and the tarsus, which is scutellate 

 anteriorly, and very short ; bill slender, as long as, or longer than, the head, much 

 compressed and greatly decurved; gonys concave, without any notch; entire basal 

 joint of the middle toes united to the lateral, the feathers stiffened at the tips; tail 

 long, cuneate. 



CERTHIA, LiNN/EUs. 



Certlila, Linn.eus, Syst. Nat., 1735 (Gray). (Type C. fnmilians.) 

 Bill as long as the head, slender, much compressed and decurved from the base, 

 without notch or rictal bristles; tarsi distinctly scutellate, very short, not longer than 

 the outer lateral toes, which much exceeds the inner, reaching nearly as far as the 

 middle toe ; hind toe longer than the middle one, its claw more than half the total 

 length; claws all very long and acute; tail rather longer than the wings, arched or 

 vaulted, graduated or cuneate; the feathers very acute at the tips, the shafts stiff- 

 ened; first primary rather more than one-third the fourth or longest one; color 

 above brown, streaked with white, beneath white. 



CERTHIA AMERICANA. — Bonaparte. 

 The American Creeper. 



Certhia Americana, Bonaparte. Consp. List (1838). 



Certhia familiaris, Wilson. Am. Cm., L (1808) 122. Aud. Orn. Biog., V. 

 (1839) 158. 



Description. 



Bill about the length of the head; above dark-brown, with a slightly rufous 

 shade, each feather streaked centrally, but not abrupth', with whitish ; rump rusty ; 

 beneath almost silky-white ; the under tail coverts with a faint rusty tinge ; a white 

 streak over the eye; the ear coverts streaked with whitish; tail feathers brown cen- 

 trally, the edges paler yellowish-brown ; wings with a transverse bar of pale reddish- 

 white across both webs. 



Length, about five and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and sixty one- 

 hundredths inches; tail, two and ninety one-hundredths inches. 



Hab. — North America generally. 



THIS species is a resident of the three southern New- 

 England States through the year : in the other States, 

 it is not a common summer visitor. It arrives from the 

 South about the middle of April, and, on pairing, com- 

 mences building about the second week in May. The nest 



