198 
CEBTHIA FAMILIAEIS. 
them from the tree in which they had their nest. . i 
male of this pair had the bill of the same extraordin® ' 
size nith several others I had examined before; j' | 
plumaji-e in every respect the same. Other 
indeed, were fonnd at the same time, of the usual s' , j 
Whether this be only an accidental variety, or 
the male, when fall jfrown, be naturally so much law i 
than the female, (as is the case nitli many birds,) 
takes several years in aiTiving at his full size, I ea»‘'^ 
positively determine, though I think the latter 
probable. 
The brown creeper builds his nest in the h('l'‘^|, 
trunk or branch of a free, where the tree has l''’j|f 
shivered, or a limb broken off, or where sqnirrek . 
woodpeckers have wrought out an entrance, for n»' , 
has not provided him n ith the means of excavatiUp 
for himself. I have known the female begin to 
the 17th of April. The eggs are usually seven, 
dull cinereous, marked with small dots of 
yellow, and streaks of dai’k lirown. The j'oung "‘.v 
forth with great caution, creeping about long 1"^ \|i 
they venture on wing. From the early season at 
they begin to build, 1 have no doubts of their 
two broods during summer, as I have seen the old e 
entering holes late in July. 
The length of this bird is five inches, and 
seven from the extremity of one wing to that o* >11 
other ; the upper part of the head is of a deep bro"'".|f, 
black ; the back brown, and both streaked n ith " '.j||i 
the plum.ige of the latter being of a loose texture, "jp; 
its filaments not adhering; the uhite is in the 
ot every feather, and is skirted with brown ; l®^|.(i, 
part of the back, rump, and t.iil-coverts, rusty 
the last minutely ti])t with whitish ; the tail is 
as the body, of a light drab colour, with the "kjij; 
webs dusky, and consists of twelve rpiills, each sl®!’^). 
oflf and tapei'ing to a point in the manner of the "® jn 
peckers, hut proportionably weaker in the shaft* 
many specimens the tail was very slightly marked 
transverse undulating waves of dusky, scarce observa 
