( 45^ ) 

 THE BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPER 



CERTHIA rjRIA, WiLS. 

 PLATE XC. Male. 



A MORE appropriate name has seldom been given to a bird than that 

 by which the present species is designated. Notwithstanding the ap- 

 proximation of the bill in form to that of the Sylvice, I am decidedly in- 

 clined to place this species among the Creepers or Certhia. To convince 

 you of the propriety of such an arrangement, I shall now lay before you 

 an account of its habits. 



The Black-and-white Creeper appears in the State of Louisiana as 

 soon as the buds on the trees begin to expand, which happens about the 

 middle of February. It throws itself into the forests, where it breeds, 

 and remains until the beginning of November. It is usually seen on the 

 largest trees of our woods. It has a few notes, consisting of a series of 

 rapidly enunciated tweets, the last greatly prolonged. It climbs and 

 creeps along the trunks, the branches, and even the twigs of the trees, 

 without intermission, and so seldom perches, that I do not remember ever 

 having seen it in such a position. It lives principally on small ants and 

 their larvae, which it secures as it ascends or descends in a spiral direction, 

 sidewise, with the head either upjiermost or beneath. It keeps its feet 

 close together, and moves by successive short hops with a rapidity equal- 

 ling even that of the Brown Creeper. It dives from the tops of the trees 

 to their roots, and again ascends. At other times, it aUghts on a decayed 

 fallen tree, and searches the bark for food, peeping into the crevices. It 

 has only a very short flight, and moves directly from one tree to the nearest. 

 In this manner the Black-and-white Creeper reaches the Northern 

 Districts, It always prefers the most uncultivated tracts, and is espe- 

 cially fond of the pines and hemlock-trees of the mountain-glens. I have 

 met with it on the borders of Canada, round Lake Champlain, in the 

 country far to the north-west, on the banks of the Illinois, in Ohio, Ken- 

 tucky, and all the wooded districts of the Arkansas and Red River. 



In Louisiana, its nest is usually placed in some small hole in a tree, 

 and is composed of mosses in a dry state, lined with cottony substances. 

 The eggs are from five to seven, of a short oval form, white, with a few 

 brownish-ied spots chiefly at the large end. 



