Brewer on the American Brown Creeper. 
89 
mode of nesting, and that this is one of several reasons that unite 
to make this nest one so rarely discovered. But other situations 
are sometimes chosen. The European Creeper was found nesting 
in Spain by Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1866), in the foundation of the nest 
of the Cinereous Vulture, and Mr. Sachse informs Mr. Dresser that 
on the Rhine it nests in cracks on the outside of peasants’ huts. 
The only instance of its breeding other than between the loosened 
bark and the trunks of trees that has come to my knowledge is 
that mentioned by Professor Aughey, who found a nest of our 
Creeper in a knot-hole in the timber near Dakota City, in June, 
1865. 
The nesting of the Creeper in Southeastern Massachusetts was 
brought to my notice by Mr. I. S. Howland of Newport, R. I., and 
I give substantially the notes furnished by that gentleman. The 
nest of the Brown Creeper was found, after a careful search, by 
Mr. Charles T. Snow of Taunton, on the 27th of May, 1878, in the 
middle of a large maple swamp, where he had noticed the presence 
of the bird for several previous summers without being able to dis- 
cover its nest. This had been constructed between the bark and 
the trunk of a dead pitch-pine, the latter being about ten inches in 
diameter. The opening was nearly closed with chips of bark and 
other substances forming its foundation, and the nest was a min- 
gling of fine bits of inner bark and soft vegetable substances, so 
soiled by its occupants that it could not be recognized. The young 
were just leaving the nest, which was ten feet from the ground. 
Its diameter was about three inches. As the set of eggs taken 
at Grand Menan appear, as compared with other sets, to be not 
typical, either in regard to ground-color or size, I will here add 
other descriptions. The gray ground of that set was possibly owing 
to their being just on the point of hatching. In all others since 
seen the ground-color is pure white, and the spots are a blending of 
brown and purplish-brown blotches. A set of six taken in May, 
1875, in Milan, N. H., are larger than those described in “ North 
American Birds.” The largest measures .60 x .49 inches, the 
smallest .58 x .47, and they average .59 x .48. This set very 
closely resembles, in every respect, my set of the eggs of C. famili- 
aris from Sweden, as well as the set of C. brachydactyla from the 
mountains of Eastern France. The blotches are a trifle larger on 
the eggs of both the European races. The largest number of eggs 
in any set of our Creeper’s that I have known is seven. In the 
