SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 177 
and safe shelter. They are seen more in woods and less 
about orchards than is the preceding species, and, though 
probably very useful in the pine woods, they are not of so 
much value in orchards, unless attracted there by artificial 
means. 
CREEPERS. 
This family of bark-climbing specialists has but one rep- 
resentative in Massachusetts. The Creepers climb upward 
and fly downward. . 
American Brown Creeper. 
Certhia familiaris americana. 
Length. — About five and one-third inches. 
Adult. —Sepia-brown above, varying in intensity, finely marked with whitish; 
under parts white. 
Nest.— Usually built behind some loose flake of bark or in a cleft in a tree trunk. 
Eggs.— Grayish-white, nearly oval, and sparingly sprinkled with brown spots, 
chiefly at larger end. 
Season. — Resident, but local in summer. 
This is a modest, quiet, and unobtrusive species. Its 
curved bill and long, rigid tail distinguish it from all other 
birds. It is quite common in Massachusetts in fall and 
spring, less so in winter, and rather rare in sum- 
mer. Most individuals of this species that do not 
go farther north to breed retire in spring to 
dark, cool cedar swamps, where they nest. 
The usual note of this bird is a thin 
sereep, suggesting that of the Golden- 
crowned Kinglet, often repeated twice 
or more. It has also a fine chip, and 
in summer a sweet, wild, indescribable 
song. The Creeper is pre-eminently 
a bird of the forest. Everywhere in 
great tracts of woods it may be found 
laboring day after day to surmount one 
giant trunk after another, only to fly 
down to the foot of still another, that it may climb again. 
In the tall, dark forests of fir, pine, and cedar on the Pacific 
slope of the Cascade Mountains the Creeper’s chirp is one 
of the few characteristic bird notes that come down to the . 
Fig. 58. — Brown Creeper, 
natural size. 
