223 



p. 28), adapted for extracting small insects and insects' eggs from narrow 

 cavities but not for chiselling in even the softest wood or bark to reach 

 them. The tail is rather long and stiff and the claws are quite long and 

 much curved. 



Genus — Certhia. Creepers. 



726. Brown Creeper. American brown creeper, fr. — he qrimpereau d'ame- 

 riqtje. Certhia familiaris. L, 5 • 66. Plate XL VI A. 



Distinctions. The brown and white stripings, lacking in decided design; the fine, 

 delicate, sickle-shaped bill and long, stiff tail feathers, worn on the tips, are easily recog- 

 nized distinctions of the species. 



Field Marks. Our only small brown bird with pronounced tree-creeping habits. 



Nesting. Behind the loose bark of trees in nest of twigs, strips of bark, bits of dead 

 wood, moss, etc. 



Distribution. As a species, occupying most of the northern hemisphere. In eastern 

 North America the Eastern Creeper is the native subspecies, in Canada extending west as 

 far as the prairie provinces and north to beyond settlement. 



SUBSPECIES. The Brown Creeper occurs in the Old as well as the New World. 

 The species is divided into several subspecies in America, only one of which, the Eastern 

 Brown Creeper C. f. americana, occurs in eastern Canada. 



Pressed tightly to the trunk of forest trees the Brown Creeper may 

 be seen spiralling up the perpendicular trunk and industriously gleaning 

 from every crack and crevice in the bark. Reaching the section where 

 the branches begin to grow smaller and the bark smooth it drops down 

 to the base of an adjoining tree and works upward again, never hurrying, 

 never pausing, filling its stomach with small beetles, larvae, and insect 

 eggs. The skill with which this bird can cling to smooth surfaces is remark- 

 able. The writer once saw a Brown Creeper climb the polished corner 

 of a black walnut bookcase with as much unconcern as if it had been the 

 roughest-barked oak in the woods. 



Economic Status. The Brown Creeper is purely insectivorous in its 

 habits and its constant microscopic attention to every little crevice in 

 the rough bark must account for innumerable insect pests. Most of 

 its work is done in the woods but as the bird frequently appears in the 

 orchard and on shade and ornamental trees about the town and house 

 the species has a powerful beneficial influence. 



FAMILY SITTID.E. NUTHATCHES. 



The Nuthatches are small, woodpecker-like birds in general habit 

 but their toes are of the usual Passerine type with three toes in front and 

 one behind instead of the characteristic two and two of the Woodpeckers. 

 The bills are somewhat like those of the Woodpecker in outline but without 

 their chisel-shaped point and are set on a slightly up-tilted angle with the 

 head, giving a turned-up or retrousse" appearance (Figure 65, p. 28, 

 compare with Figure 41, p. 25). The colours of our species are char- 

 acteristic. The name Nuthatch is derived from their habit of wedging 

 nuts and other hard food into crevices and "hatching" or hacking them 

 until an entrance is made. Though capable of considerable excavating 

 in wood or bark they do not use their powers to delve deeply into trees 

 but as a rule content themselves with flaking off the loose bark scales and 

 searching the open cavities and seams. 



