BROWN TREE-CREEPER. 
Ill 
dots of pure neutral tint here and there, but none of those “ streaks of dark 
brown ” described by Wilson. 
The young, like those of our Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, remain about 
the nest until they are able to fly, and in their minority are well supplied 
with food. The members of a family usually remain together until the next 
spring. 
The males of this species are larger than the females. This difference is 
very apparent in the bill. In the winter months, the Brown Creeper is not 
unfrequently seen in orchards, and at a short distance from farm-houses ; but 
in the breeding season it retires to the interior of the forests. Its food 
consists chiefly of ants, larvae, small insects, and particles of lichens ; and, if 
one be placed near the nose, it is generally found to emit an odour like that 
of an ts. 
Brown Creeper, Certhia familiaris, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 122. 
Certhia familiaris, Bonap. Syn. p. 280. 
Brown Creeper, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 585. 
Brown Creeper, Certhia familiaris , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 158. 
Adult Male. 
Bill a little shorter than the head, arched, very slender, much compressed, 
acute ; upper mandible with the dorsal line arched, the ridge narrow, the 
sides sloping at the base, nearly erect in the rest of their extent, the edges 
sharp and arched, without notch, the tip acute ; nasal groove rather long, 
narrow, feathered ; nostrils linear-oblong, operculate ; lower mandiblewith 
the angle rather long, narrow, and pointed, the outline decurved, the sides 
erect and convex, the edges inclinate, the tip acute. 
Head rather small, ovato-oblong ; neck short; body slender. Feet rather 
short, very slender; tarsus rather shorter than the middle toe, very slender, 
much compressed ; toes extremely compressed ; the first comparatively large, 
longer than the middle toe, including the claws; the inner toe shorter than 
the outer ; claws long, slender, extremely compressed, laterally grooved, 
acute, that of the hind toe very long. 
Plumage long, loose, very soft; the feathers ovato-oblong, with disunited 
filaments. Wings of moderate length, very broad ; the first quill very short, 
being ten and a half twelfths shorter than the second, which is four-twelfths 
shorter than the third, the fifth longest but scarcely exceeding the fourth, 
which is one- twelfth longer than the third. Tail long, graduated, of twelve 
moderately stiff pointed feathers, of which the lateral are eight-twelfths 
shorter than the middle. 
Upper mandible brownish-black, lower flesh-coloured, with the tip dusky, 
Iris brown. Feet light reddish-brown, claws yellowish-grey. The upper 
