THE BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER. 201 



little moss, and lined with finer blades of tlie former and a 

 few long hairs. The eggs are four or five in number, of 

 a sullied-white color, and covered with small brown spots, 

 collected chiefly towards the larger end." 



Sub-Family Stlvicolin^e. — The Wood-warblers. 

 MXIOTILTA, ViEiixoT. 



Mniotilia, Vikilixjt, Analyse, 1816 (Agassiz). 



General form syhncoline; bill rather long, compressed, shorter than the head, 

 with veiy short rictal bristles and a shallow notch ; wings considerably longer than 

 the tail, which is slightly rounded; first quill shorter than second and third; tarsi 

 rather short; toes long, middle one equal to the tarsus; hind toe nearh' as long, the 

 claw considerably shorter than its digit. Color white streaked wth black. 



This genus dift'eis from other Sylcicolines in the elongation of the toes, especially 

 the hinder one, by means of which the species is enabhad to move up and down the 

 trunks of trees, like the true Creepers. But one species is recognized as North 

 American, although Xuttall describes a second. 



MNIOTILTA VAEIA. — VieilloL 

 The Black and White Creeper. 



MotaciUa vana, Linn.tus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 333. 



MniotiUavaria, YieiUot. Analyse (1016). 76., Galerie Ois., I. (1834) 276. Aud. 

 S\Ti. (1839), 71. lb., Birds Am., 11. (1841) 105. , 



Syh-ia varia, Bonaparte. Syn. (1828), 81. Nutt. Man., I. (1832) 384. 

 Certhta maculata, Wilson. Am. Om., III. (1811) 22. 



Desceiption. 



Bill with the upper mandible considerably decur%-ed, the lower straight; general 

 color of the male black, the feathers broadly edged with white; the head all round 

 black, with a median stripe in the crown and neck above, a superciliary and a max- 

 illary one of white; middle of bellj% two conspicuous bands on the wings, outer 

 edtres of tertials and inner of all the wing and tail feathers, and a spot on the inner 

 webs of the outer two tail feathers, white ; rump and upper tail coverts black, 

 edged externally with white; female similar; the under parts white, obsoletely 

 streaked with black on the sides and under tail coverts. 



Length, five inches ; wing, tvvo and eighty-five one-hundredths inches ; taU, two 

 Bud twenty-five one-hundredths inches. 



Hab. — Eastern Xorth America to Slissouri River, south to Guatemala. 



Tliis is a rather common summer inhabitant of all New 

 England. It arrives from the South before the 20th oi 



