Brewster on the American Brown Creeper. 203 
imperfections of our past records well attest how closely the secret 
has been kept from man, nor is it probable that the predatory birds 
or mammals are often more successful. Even should a Jay or 
Squirrel succeed in discovering the presence of such a nest, they 
would be unable to enter through the narrow crevice used by the 
Creeper, and it is not likely that either their patience or strength 
would endure to tear out the sticks and other materials of the sub- 
structure from below, and thus obtain possession of the coveted eggs 
or young. Yet, now that the secret is out, the very peculiarity of 
its position renders this nest a singularly easy one to find. After 
taking my first specimen I experienced little difficulty in recognizing 
a “Creeper tree” — as my guide got to calling them — almost at 
a glance. 
The eggs of the Brown Creeper have been described so well 
already that it seems unnecessary to enter into further details here. 
My specimens show only a very limited range of variation, and this 
chiefly in regard to size, for the shape and markings of the different 
examples are quite uniform. As Dr. Brewer suspected, the grayish 
ground-color is peculiar to specimens far advanced in incubation. 
The freshly laid egg is tinged with that delicate fleshy hue found in 
several other eggs of thin shells and sparse markings. With the 
removal of the contents, however, this tint always vanishes, leaving 
the shell of pure, almost crystalline whiteness. 
The following concise record of all the nests taken during the 
season of 1879 will illustrate the somewhat variable times at 
w T hich the different sets of eggs were deposited : May 31, nest with 
set of six eggs, incubation about five days ; June 5, nest with six 
eggs, incubation about six days ; June 14, nest with five young, which 
were perhaps a week old; June 19, nest with four fresh eggs, — 
a complete set, as the bird laid no additional ones, although left 
unmolested for two days longer. This clutch may possibly have 
been a second laying by the pair robbed on May 31, as the site was 
only a few hundred yards distant. June 23, nest with four fresh 
eggs, locality several miles aw T ay from that of any of the preceding. 
With respect to their general plan of construction, all of the eight 
nests which I have examined were essentially similar. Indeed, the 
uniform character of the nesting-sites chosen by the different pairs 
of birds was not a little remarkable. Thus, in every single instance 
that came under my observation, the nest was placed on a balsam 
fir, though spruce, birch, or elm stubs were often much more numer- 
