272 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES— OSCINES. 



Size of the last. Young: Differs much as the J of canadensis does from the $, in having the 

 top of the head like the hack. U. S. from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacifie, abundant, chiefly in 

 pine woods ; N. to Vancouver. Eggs 6-7, white, profusely speckled with reddish, 0.62 X 0.50. 



5. Family CERTHIID-^ : Creepers. 



A very small, well-marked group, of about a dozen species, and four or five genera, which 

 fall in two sections, commonly called subfamilies ; one of these, TichodromintB, is represented 

 by the well-known European Wall Creeper, Tichodroma mura/ria, and several (chiefly Aus- 

 tralian) species of the genus Climacteris; while the genus Certhia, with five or six species or 

 varieties, and certain allied genera (all but one Old World) constitute the 



Fig. 145. — Common Brown Creeper, Certhia fa/mllia/ris, nearly nat. size. (From Brehm.) 



8. Subfamily CERTHIIN^; Typical Creepers. 



Our species may be known on sight, among North American Osc/imes, by its rigid, acumi- 

 nate tail-feathers, like a woodpecker's. Besides : — biU about equal in length to head, ex- 

 tremely slender, sharp, and deourved ; nostrils exposed ; no rictal bristles ; tarsus scutellate, 

 shorter than 3d toe and claw, which is connate for the whole of the 1st joint with both 2d and 

 4th toe; lateral toes of unequal lengths, 1st toe shorter than its claw; claws all much curved 

 and very sharp; wing lO-primaried, the 1st primary very short, not one-half the 2d, which is 

 less than the 3d; point of wing formed by 3d, 4th, and 5th quills; tail rounded, equal to or 

 longer than wing, of 12 stout, elastic, curved, acuminate feathers. Restless, active, little forest 

 birds that make a living by picking bugs out of cracks in bark. In scramhling about they use 

 the tail as woodpeckers do, and never hang head downwards, like the nuthatches. Lay numer- 

 ous white, speckled eggs in knotholes; are not regularly migratory; have slight seasonal or 

 sexual changes of plumage ; are chiefly insectivorous, and not noted for musical ability. 



