BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPING- WARBLER. 107 



Black-and-white Creeper, Certhia varia, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 23. 



Sylvia varia, Bonap. Syn., p. 81. 



Black-and-white Creeper, Certhia varia, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 452; vol. v. p. 471. 



Adult Male. 



Bill rather long, slightly arched, compressed, extremely slender, acute; 

 nostrils basal, narrow, half-closed by a membrane. General form slender. 

 Feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe, scutel- 

 late before; toes free, scutellate, the hind one proportionally larger; claws 

 compressed, very acute, arched. 



Plumage soft and blended. Wings of ordinary length, third quill longest, 

 secondaries short. Tail nearly even, of twelve narrow, rounded feathers. 



Bill black. Iris hazel. Feet dusky yellow. Middle of the head longitu- 

 dinally white, bordered on each side by a broad stripe of black, beneath 

 which, on each side, over the eye, is a line of white. Ear-coverts and chin 

 black. Back and breast streaked with white and black. Wings black, the 

 outer margins of the quills greyish-white, the tips of the larger coverts, 

 excepting the primary ones, white, forming two broad bands of that colour 

 across the wing. Tail black, tinged with bluish-grey externally, the ends of 

 the inner webs of the three outer feathers on each side white. Abdomen 

 white; sides and under tail-coverts white, spotted with black. 



Length 5-|- inches, extent of wings 7^; bill along the ridge \. 



The young are similar in colouring to the females. The young males do 

 not acquire their full plumage until the following spring. 



A male of this species is represented on a twig of the tree commonly 

 called the Black Larch. 



The Black Larch. 



Pinus pendula, Pursch, Flor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 645.— Moncecia Polyandria, Linn. — 

 Conifers, Juss. 



Leaves fasciculate, deciduous; cones oblong, the margins of the scales 

 inflected; bracteoles panduriform, with an attenuated tip. This species, 

 which grows in cedar swamps, in the Northern States, attains a great size, 

 and resembles the European larch in appearance. 



