The Audubon Societies 245 



crevices and brush tangles. The House Wren of eastern North America, who 

 has a counterpart, the Western House Wren, breeds from not far north of the 

 United States south to Kentucky and Virginia, wintering in eastern Texas, 

 Tamaulipas, and about the South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



There are only twelve species of Creepers known, and of these the Brown 

 Creeper with its six subspecies is the only one of this family that occurs in 

 America. Breeding from the northern United States up through southern 

 Quebec to Newfoundland, the Brown Creeper is a familiar migrant through 

 our latitude. It does not go further south than northern Florida and central 

 Texas. It is not a song bird with us, uttering only a low, lisping note, as it 

 searches unremittingly on the trunks of trees for hidden larvae and eggs of 

 injurious insects. Study the Brown Creeper, the Nuthatches, Downy Wood- 

 pecker and Black and White Creeper, learning to distinguish each by note,, 

 movements and shape. 



The Nuthatches and Chickadees have been grouped in the same family 

 until very recently, but it is perhaps better to separate them, since they are 

 quite different in many respects. Both are resident species, for the most 

 part. The White-breasted Nuthatch occurs east of the Great Plains, and the 

 Chickadee belongs also to eastern North America. 



Next to the tiny Hummingbirds in size, the Kinglets, along with the Gnat- 

 catchers and Kennicott's Willow Warbler, an Old World species which crosses 

 into Alaska from Asia, are often confused with our Wood Warblers. The 

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet comes up from the tableland of Mexico and Guatemala 

 as a spring migrant, to breed north of the United States or along mountain 

 ranges while the Golden-crowned Kinglet visits us in winter, coming down 

 from its boreal breeding-area. Fine and exquisite in every particular, the 

 Kinglets are delightful bird-neighbors to have. The Ruby-crown has a remark- 

 ably beautiful song, and easily shares the honors in this respect with the 

 Winter Wren. 



Last, but far from least, in this very large order of birds, is the family 

 of Solitaires^ Thrushes, Robins, Wheateaters, Bluethroats and Bluebirds. 

 Of all of our feathered friends, the familiar Robin is doubtless the best known 

 iand best loved. We have a Western Robin, a Southern Robin, and a San 

 Lucas Robin, besides the common Robin. Draw a line from the tree-limit 

 in northwestern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, northern 

 Ungava and Newfoundland, and a second one from Cook Inlet, central 

 Alberta, southeastern Wyoming and Kansas, through the Middle States 

 to New Jersey, and down the Alleghanies to North Carolina. Between these 

 two lines the Robin breeds. In winter, a few Robins remain in northern 

 (United States, but, for the most part, this species moves down toward the 

 jGulf Coast, and as far as Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It is considered a "stray" 

 |in Cuba and Bermuda, 

 i From this hasty survey of the twenty-five families of passerine birds. 



