Nksting op Ckrthia familiaris. — Having read witli interest 

 Dr. Brewer's article on the Brown Creeper in tlie last number of the 

 Bulletin, I desire to add one more instance in confii-mation of his opinion 

 as to tlie usual situation of its nest. T have in my collection two eggs of 

 this bird, which were obtained July 28, 1876, by a friend of mine who is 

 something of an ornithologist. The nest was situated in the heavy 

 forest, half a mile north of Moose Pine, Hamilton County, N. Y., con- 

 cealed behind a piece of bark which had been partly torn loose from the 

 side of a spruce-tree, about six feet from the ground. The bird was well 

 seen and identified by my friend (who is familiar with the species), but 

 was not shot. In describing the nest to me he used these words : " The 

 nest was made of soft downy materials, including feathers and such soft 

 materials as you will find in a squirrel's nest. The whole bulk was not 

 larger than your fist." It contained three young birds with down only in 

 tufts upon them, and two addled eggs, white, thinly marked with fine 

 reddish spots or dots, and measuring .60x.47 and .59 y- ,47. — Egbert 

 Bagg, Jr., mica, N. Y. B«1L N. O. O. 4. July 1S79 . p. /f-J . 



The Creeper. {Cert/da frmiUiaris.) 



BY W. WELLS BLADEN, ST< .X |.:, STA Fl-OKDSHIBE, ENf^ 



As the Creeper ('''r//,ia f,„„i/n,ns) common 



to both the Old n,„l \Vn,-I,l, I il„ hi ,],«, 



somoobservalinn, ,„,„„ ,is ii.slin^' h.-tbils would 

 interest your ivadcrs. 



The Civnpi'is are sub-divided into several 

 species, varying in color, and the rufous foim 

 which ,s round in Western North American, is 

 undistinguishalde from the Britisli form of which 

 I write. 



In May last year a fj-iend and 1 went to explore 

 a tree m Sandon Park which lias the local repu- 

 tation of being an " Owl-Tree." It is an old Elm 

 of which only some ten feet of (runk remain As 

 soon as we arrived at tlie tree, my friend e.v- 

 daimed" Here's a Creeper's nest" and between 

 the loose bark and (runk we found a nest contain- 

 ing four lovely eggs, f^earcely had we found 

 them, when a Creeper llew from Ijchind the bark 

 about a yard above, and on examining the place 

 we found a second nesi, which was empty I 

 visited the tree a, week laler, and no, (indin-. any 

 eggs in the second nesf. pulled it out tor the pur- 

 purpose of examination. It exactly titled the 

 crevice from wliieli I took it, tlie bottom part was 

 composed of tine twigs tlien roots anrl moss with 

 a lining of tine strips of inside bark, and ciiips of 

 decayed wood. Upon pulling ii to pieces I was 

 surprised to find in the middle five Creeper's 

 eggs, apparantly a full ••lulch^two of them I 

 broke, and the jellied state ..f the contents showed 

 they were far from fresh; evidently the bird bad 

 forsaken them and built ujion the to]) of them. 

 About ten days afterwards I found yet another 

 Creeper's nest in a difli-rent part of tlio same 

 trunk, close to where the first one mia built, but 

 no further eggs were laid. I watched the tree 

 closely on various occasions, and only saw the 

 one pair of birds, these I believe built the four 

 nests. 



The Creeper rears two hioods in the year, the 

 first clutch being from six to nine in number 

 Tlie eggs differ considerably in the amount and 

 arrangement of niarkin,g,but those of a clutch are 

 much alike. They are pure white in ground 

 colors, beautifully marked with brownisli red 

 spots ; these form a zone round the larger end 

 at other times are more generally distributed. In 

 length they are .7 or slightly under, and in 

 breadth ,.5 inch. o.&O. X. Feb.1885. p. £ 9. 



: The Oologist 1575. ^^^'s^ o/ae Bror.. Cre 

 I, Mention of various other specie.. 



I ,5.5. Brown Creeper. Common.^ Thj.s^ 

 I anotlier one of our winter visitors. Tliis bird 

 did not come under my observation until 1^ 

 when I shot the first one I ever saw, and the 

 summer of 1887 when I had the good luck to 

 find a nest. When first found it was not com- 

 pleted. It was placed under a piece of bark 

 which was on a tall dead tree and was about 

 I ten feet from the ground. I watched the birds 

 I as they built it. The male was quite diligent, 

 j and I noticed that when he came out before 

 her he would creep up the tree four or five 

 feet and then fiy down (never crept) to the 

 nest, and if she did not make her appearance 

 tor some time he would look in and they would 

 have a little chat together. After awhile they 

 would both come out and fly away. I„ a few 

 mmutes both would return and repeat tlie per- 

 formance. After this I again visited the nest 

 to find „i It three fresh eggs; these I carefully 

 packed in a small tin box, but in trying to get 

 to a Sparrow Hawk's nest I lost the box. The 

 nest was composed of the fine inner bark of 

 trees and was very shallow. ' 



0^ &0, X7. 'Jttoa. laso, p.ea 



<^per. By Wm. L. Rells. 



