190 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



FAMILY CEI^THIIADJE. 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. 



Certhia, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., 1735 (Gray). (Type C. familiaris.) 

 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. 



CEETHIA AMERICANA. 



The American Creeper. 



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



Certkia familiaris, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (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 abruptly, 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. 



Hob. 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 



