272 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 
Size of the last. Young: Differs much as the 9 of canadensis does from the , in having the 
top of the head like the back. U.S. from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, abundant, chiefly in 
pine woods; N. to Vancouver. Eggs 6-7, white, profusely speckled with reddish, 0.62 x 0.50. 
5. Family CERTHIID2: 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, Zichodromine, is represented 
by the well-known European Wall Creeper, Tichodroma muraria, 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 
8. Subfamily CERTHIINA:: Typical Creepers. 
Our species may be known on sight, among North American Oscines, by its rigid, acunu- 
nate tail-feathers, like a woodpecker’s. Besides: — bill about equal in length to head, .ex- 
tremely slender, sharp, and decurved; 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 10-primaried, the lst primary very short, not one-half the 2d, which is 
less than the 3d; point of wing furmed 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 scrambling 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. 
