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Nesting of the Black and White 

 Creeper. 



BY SAMUEL B. LADD, WEST CIIESTEK, I'A. 



This species {Mniotilta varici) wtiich oonneots 

 the Certhudce with the MnioHlUdai, is in gener- 

 al considered quite common owing to its large 

 breeding range, but until recently was not 

 known to breed hero, though given as one of 

 our common migrants. I was not satisfied last 

 year when I found them for the first time, as 

 the birds were then feeding their young, which 

 were at that time (June 6th, 1886) nearly ready 

 to fly. However, I tried to be consoled in 

 thinking they would be located for another 

 season. But I was disappointed again in my 

 second set which were taken May 29th, 1887, as ' 

 the eggs, lour in number, were so heavily incu- 

 bated that but two of them could be saved. 



Regarding the third and last set I took, my 

 note-book runs as follows :— 



After a long and tedious day's walk after the 

 es-s-s of the Worm-eatins Warbler, (IMmintho- 



therus vermivorus) on the 8th of June, with my 

 heels and ankles badly blistered from an ill-fit- 

 ting pair of boots, I thought (to put in the 

 time, as I did not care to come into town limp- 

 ing like a professional tramp before dark) that 

 I would hunt over a hill-side, where on several 

 previous occasions I had searched, as I thought 

 thoroughly, without success. The Worm-eaters 

 and Black and White Creepers were singing 

 there almost constantly, but the entire under- 

 growth was a thicket of our laurel (Kalmia 

 latifolia), averaging about five feet high, a 

 very common evergreen along our Brandywine 

 hills, especially where rocky and shaded, 

 making it hard work to find anything. At the 

 foot of a small oak near the top of the hill I 

 found a beautiful nest ol the Black and White 

 Creeper containing three eggs, which I left for 

 a larger set. Two or three days later I re- 

 turned and found the female on the nest. She 

 allowed me to get almost near enough to put 

 my hand on her, then suddenly slid out, and 

 after getting a few feet away began feigning 

 lameness. If I had watched her piteous at- 

 tempts to draw me away much longer I am 

 afraid she would have succeeded. The nest 

 was partly concealed with dead limbs and roots 

 at the foot of a small oak tree. Its general 

 appearance was the same as the others but. 

 more compact. It was woven in basket-shape 

 with an inner bark which resembled that of the 

 wild grape vine, and lined with horse-hair. 

 The five eggs are creamy white, sprinkled over 

 their entire surface with light brown, and form- 

 ing a wreath around the larger end, of a dark 

 brown with a few light purplish spots. They 

 measure .69x.52, .69x.53, .69x.53, .Tlx. 54. 



''^^ ^ 0.& O. XII. Sept. 1887 p ii'o-/S-/ 



June Tlh, I took a nest and three cggis of the Bjacls-and ' 

 TOilte Creejwr. The nest was under the roof of a very 

 large Hemlock, entirely out of sight. The entrance to the 

 neBt was a small mouse hole through the decayed leaves. 

 It was only by a chance step that I flushed the parent bird. 

 I waited about five minutes and she returned to the nest 

 and I caught her in my hand. I have collected about here 

 every year since '73, excepting 1880, '81, '82 and '83, and 

 never before have seen this bird at this time of year, al- 

 though it is a very common migrant.— H. D. S. 



(2- 

 _\6 



494- 

 Aken, 



Tie Nesting of the Black-and-vjhite Crecfey. "By A. G. V 



/i>/d., XVII, pp. 103-105, Aaaer. N-ata-ealist* 



