314 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



bright rusty ; white line over eye ; below white ; feathers about vent and under tail- 

 coverts, in most specimens, are soiled, more or less, with pale reddish-brown ; large 

 wing-quills, except outer two or three primaries, transversely barred with pale red- 

 dish-white. 



Habitat. North America in general, breeding from the northern and more ele- 

 vated parts of the United States northward, migrating southward in winter. 



The Brown Creeper is a rather abundant spring- and fall migrant 

 throughout the state. In winter it is also frequently met with, but is never 

 as common during- the winter months as when migrating in April and 

 October. This unsuspicious and brown-coated creeper frequents chiefly 

 forests ; he also sometimes is seen in trees in lawns, parks and gardens. 

 Like a woodpecker, this bird creeps up and around the trunks of trees; 

 and so similar is the coloration of his upper parts, to the rough bark 

 over which he nimbly moves, that he frequently escapes notice. 

 Although unsuspicious, often permitting you to approach within a few 

 feet of the tree-trunk on which he so industriously is seeking his insect 

 food, he usually, when closely approached, quietly and quickly slips 

 round to the opposite side of the tree from the observer. I have never 

 observed this species in Pennsylvania in summer, but that it breeds 

 sparingly in our mountainous regions there is ample proof. 



Prof. August Kock mentions it as a regular but rather rare breeder in 

 the mountainous districts of Lycoming county, in the neighborhood of 

 Williamsport. Mr. George B. Sennett informs me that this bird breeds 

 occasionally in the elevated parts of Erie county, where it also is some- 

 times seen during mild winters. Prof. H. Justin Roddy has found 

 these birds during the summer months in the mountains of Perry and 

 Centre counties. In the forests of Sullivan county, at an altitude of 

 about 2,000 feet, the Brown Creeper is reported, by Mr. Otto Behr, to be 

 a regular, though not common, summer resident. " They breed in hol- 

 low trees, in the deserted holes of the woodpeckers, and in the decayed 

 stumps and branches of trees. Their nest is a loose aggregation of soft, 

 warm materials, not interwoven, but simply collected with regard to no 

 other requisite than warmth. * * * Their eggs are small in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird, are nearly oval in shape, with a grayish- 

 white ground, sparingly sprinkled with small, fine, red and reddish- 

 brown spots. They measure .55 by .43 of an inch." (Hist. N. Am. B.). 

 Food consists entirely of insects, especially small beetles, larvae, ants, 

 flies, etc. 



FAMILY PARIDJE. NUTHATCHES AND TITS. 

 SUBFAMILY SITTING. NUTHATCHES. 



THE NUTHATCHES. 



Nuthatches are so named from their habit of placing nirts, seeds, etc., in crevices in 

 limbs or in cracks in bark and hammering away with the hard, sharp-pointed and 

 awl-like bill until the shell is broken and its nutritious and softer contents exposed. 



