204 GREAT CAROLINA "WREN. 
m 
thougli possessing great family likeness to those above mentioned, are 
decisively Creepers, if the bill, the tongue, nostrils and claws are to be 
the criteria by "which we are to class them. 
The color of the plumage of birds is but an uncertain and inconstant 
guide ; and though in some cases it serves to furnish a trivial or specific 
appellation, yet can never lead us to the generic one. I have, there- 
fore, notwithstanding the general appearance of these birds, and the 
practice of former ornithologists, removed them to the genus Certhia, 
from that of Motacilla, where they have hitherto been placed. 
This bird is frequently seen, early in May, along the shores of the 
DehiAvare, and other streams that fall into it on both sides, thirty or 
forty miles below Philadelphia ; but is rather rare in Pennsylvania. 
This circumstance is a little extraordinary ; since, from its size, and 
stout make, it would seem more capable of braving the rigors of a 
northern climate than awj of the othersj It can, however, scarcely be 
called migratory. In the depth of winter I found it numerous in Vir- 
ginia along the shores and banks of the James river and its tributary 
streams, and thence as far south as Savannah. I also observed it on 
the banks of the Ogechee ; it seemed to be particularly attached to the 
borders of cypress swamps, deep hollows, among piles of old decaying 
timber, and by rivers and small creeks. It has all the restless' jerking 
manners of the Wrens, skipping about with great nimbleness, hopping 
into caves, and disappearing into holes and crevices like a rat, for seve- 
ral minutes, and then reappearing in another quarter. It occasionally 
utters a loud, strong, and singular twitter, resembling the word cldrr- 
rup, dwelling long and strongly on the first syllable ; and so loud that 
I at first mistook it for the Red-bird, L. cardhiaUs. It has also another 
chant, rather more musical, like " Sweet Williaia, Sweet William," 
much softer than the former. Though I cannot positively say, from my 
own observations, that it builds in Pennsylvania, and have never yet 
been so fortunate as to find its nest; yet, from the circumstance of hav- 
ing several times observed it within a quarter of a mile of the Schuyl- 
kill, in the month of August, I have no doubt that some few breed here, 
and think it highly probable that Pennsylvania and New York may be 
the northern boundaries of their visits, having sought for it in vain 
among the states of New England.- Its food appears to consist of those 
insects and their larvte that frequent low damp caves, piles of dead tim- 
ber, old roots, projecting banks of creeks, &c., &c. It certainly pos- 
sesses the faculty of seeing in the dark better than day birds usually 
do ; for I have obser\- jd it exploring the recesses of caves, where a good 
acute eye must have been necessary to enable it to distinguish its prey. 
In the Southern States, as Avell as in Louisiana, this species is gener- 
ally r(?.s-u7t'»f ; though in summer they nre more numerous, and are found 
rather farther north than in winter. In this last season their, chirrup- 
