PASSERES— CERTIIID.E-MNIOTILTA. 
51 
The Brown Creeper is supposed not to be a common species in this State, although it 
breeds and remains here the whole year. It may not, however, have been often observed, as 
it is a very solitary bird, inhabiting for the most part the recesses of the forests. The eggs 
are from 7-9, oTaThill ash-color with dots and streaks of brown. It feeds on insects and the 
seeds of pines. Wilson could detect no differences between this and the Common Creeper 
(C. familiar is) of Europe. In this he has been followed by all ornithologists until recently, 
when Charles Bonaparte, whose knowledge of both European and American birds is confess¬ 
edly unrivalled, has considered them as specifically distinct. It ranges from Louisiana to the 
50th degree of north latitude. 
(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 
C. albifrons. (Giraud, Birds of Texas, plate.) Dark brown, spotted with lighter. Tail and coverts 
light brown, broadly barred with black : throat, foreneck and breast pure white. Length, 5*4. 
Texas. 
GENUS MNIOTILTA. Vieillot. 
Bill straight, slender, much compressed towards the end: notches on the edges obsolete. 
Tongue long, pointed and horny at tip. Feet moderate, very slender. Tarsus much com¬ 
pressed; the upper scutella blended, shorter than the middle toe and claw. Toes com¬ 
pressed ; the first very long. Plumage loose. Wings long : the second and third quills 
longest, subequal; first longer than the fourth. Tail moderate, nearly even, slightly 
emarginate. 
Obs. This genus was instituted by Vieillot, for the reception of a species which had been 
arranged by Linnaeus as a Motacilla, by Latham as a Sylvia, and by Wilson and Vieillot 
himself as a Certhia. It was subsequently arranged by Bonaparte as a Sylvia, and by 
Swainson and Jardine as a Sylvicola. Wilson, considering the actual state of ornithological 
knowledge in his time, was justified by its habits, and most of its characters, in placing it. as 
he did. But one species has yet been discovered. 
7* 
