Family 13. Certhiid^;. Creepers. 



Very small, tree-creeping Passerids having 10 primaries; lengthened but rounded wines; tail cither (3.) much 

 shorter than wing, of unmodified feathers; or (b) about as long as wing, of notably stiffened, pointed feathers; bill 

 slender, curved, at least near tip, of simple outline; toes much as in preceding family, claws notably curved. A small 

 cosmopolitan (except South America) family, of easily distinguished appearance and habit — less than 20 species, 

 the most wide-spread represented in California by two races. 



131. Brown Creeper. 



Family 14. Troglodytidte. Wrens. 



Small to medium-sized Passerids, having 10 primaries, the outermost at least half as long as the next (9th); 

 wings notably rounded; bill lengthened, slender, compressed, usually decurved, otherwise simple; tarsus long. Color- 

 ation more or less brownish or rufescent. Eggs 5-10, white or speckled, often very heavily. A highly developed 

 neo-tropical and, to a much larger degree, neo-temperate family, with a small wide-spread spill-over (aggregating 

 about 15 species) into the Old World — about 200 species, 150 of them neo-tropical, 7 Californian. 



I. Length about 8 inches. 



II. Length 4.50 or over. 



A. Back black, striped with white. 



B. Back spotted by dusky and pinkish buffy. 



C. Back nearly uniform, or at most vaguely barred with dusky. 



1. A distinct white line over eye. 



2. No white line over eye. 



a. Above brown changing to auburn on posterior underparts; 



throat broadly white. 



b. Above grayish brown, lightening, but never pure white, 



below. 



III. Length about 4.00. 



133. Cactus Wren. 



132. Marsh Wren. 

 137. Rock Wren. 



134. Bewick Wren. 



138. Auburn Canyon Wren. 



135. Western House Wren. 



136. Western Winter Wren. 



Family 15. Mimidje. Thrashers, Mockingbirds. 



Medium-sized Passerids having 10 primaries, the outermost well developed (except in Oreoscoples at least 

 half as long as 9th); slender bill, usually decurved and slightly notched toward tip (except in Toxosloma); tarsus 

 scutellate; inner (2nd) toe almost or quite free at base. Eggs 3-5, niagara green or pale stone-colored, usually finely 

 spotted. An exclusively American group, central in Mexico, and including some of the world's finest songsters. 

 50 species and subspecies, of which 8 Californian. 



I. Smallest, length about 8.00; bill shortest (about .65); outermost 



primary less than half as long as next (9th). 



II. Middle-sized, length 8.50-1 1. 00; bill moderate; coloration not 



drab. 



A. Length about 8.75; slate-colored, blackening on pileum and 



tail. 



B. Length 10.00 or over; black and brownish gray, with white 



blotch on wing. 



III. Middle-sized to largest; bill moderate to largest; coloration drab 



or some derivative thereof. 



A. Smaller. 



1. Length 10.00 or under; bill .94; coloration medium. 140. 



2. Length 10.00 or over; bill 1.29; coloration palest. 142. 



B. Middle-sized, length (of males) about 10.50. [Note: the meas- 



urements given in the text are at fault, and should read: 

 Length of males 266 (10.50)]; bill 1.25; coloration medium. 139. 



C. Larger; length 11.00-12.00; bill about 1.40. 



1. Coloration darkest above; lighter but blended below. 141. 



2. Somewhat lighter above; darker below, with more contrast- 



ing white of throat and rufous of crissum. 143. 



146. Sage Thrasher. 



144. Catbird. 



145. Western Mockingbird. 



Bendire's Thrasher. 

 Leconte's Thrasher. 



Palmer's Thrasher. 

 California Thrasher. 

 Crissal Thrasher. 



Family 16. Cinclid^e. Dippers. 



"Aquatic, slender-billed, 'ten primaried', acutiplantar Oscines, with plump body, short tail, short and very 

 concave wings; rather long, booted tarsi; plumage very soft, compact and underlaid with down, and feathers of the 

 anterior portion of the head short and dense, without the usual bristly tips, even the rictal bristles being absent" 

 (Ridgway). Eggs 4 or 5, white. A small sharply circumscribed family of about a dozen species, found in Europe, 

 central and northern Asia, and in western America south to Argentina. Only one species Californian. 



147. American Dipper. 



208l 



