BLACK AND WHITE CREEPER. 
67 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Specimens from Florida, although not appreciably different in size, generally have the black mask wider both on 
the forehead and sides of the head'and neck, where it does not end as squarely as in the northern birds, but extends 
on in a point which occasionally reaches the upper part of the breast. A grayish-white line on the head of southern 
specimens is paler or not as bluish, and is often broader, although it is extremely variable in this respect. The 
yellow of the breast is also more extended and brighter than that of northern birds. The adult males may be 
known from all others by the black mask. The females may be distinguished by the yellowish throat and the under 
tail coverts. Distributed during the breeding season throughout the entire continent of North America, wintering 
in the more southern sections. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of twenty-six specimens.— Length, 5-25; stretch, 7-20; wing, 2-21; tail, 2-00; bill, ‘45; 
tarsus, '70. Longest specimen, 5-75; greatest extent of wings, 7 - 76; longest wing, 2-56; tail, 2T5; bill, ’56; tarsus, 
•80. Shortest specimen, 5T0; smallest stretch of wings, 6-70; shortest wing, 2.00; tail, 1-70; bill, -42; tarsus, -64. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground, composed of dried leaves and grasses, lined with finer grasses. These are the 
usual materials, but a specimen in my collection, found on Grand Menan by Mr. Harold Herrick, is partly composed 
of feathers from domestic fowls. Dimensions: external diameter, 3-50 inches, internal, 2-50; external depth, 2-75 
inches, internal, 2. 
Eggs, usually four in number, pure white in color, spotted everywhere, but more particularly on the larger end, 
with reddish-brown, lilac and umber; the lilac spots being the smallest. Dimensions, from *70 x -52 to *75 x ’55. 
HABITS. 
Among the most common birds in Florida are the Maryland Yellow-throats. Their harsh 
alarm notes greet the ear of the pedestrian whenever he passes a lonely hummock in the more 
northern portions, or approaches the tangled thickets among the Keys. Their cheery songs 
also ring out from the swampy margins of the rivers and lakes; in fact there is no place in the 
state, however desolate, which will afford concealment, that is not inhabited by them. Indeed 
I have found them breeding in every favorable locality which I have visited, throughout Eastern 
North America. They readily adapt themselves to circumstances, and appear equally contented 
under the thorny cacti of Key West, in the hedgerows of New England, or amid the cold boggy 
heaths of the Magdalen Islands. 
The Maryland Yellow-throats are the most terrestrial of all the Warblers, seldom appearing in 
trees but frequenting low bushes. The nests are placed on the ground, generally concealed by 
a tussock of grass, often near a stream or other body of water. Those which pass the summer 
in New England arrive early in May and lay their eggs about the 1st of June; the young may 
be found in August, and they all depart in October. They are constant residents in Florida and 
breed there in April. 
GENUS VI. MNIOTILTA. THE CREEPING WARBLERS. 
Gen, Ch. Hind toe and claw exceeding in length the middle anterior toe and claw ; also equaling the tarsus in 
length. Sternum, narrow ; keel, low, being only as high as half the width of the sternum. 
MNIOTILTA VARIA. 
Black and White Creeper. 
Mniotilta varia Vieillot, Analyse; 1816. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, slender. Size, medium. Feet, rather large. Bill, long, nearly equaling the head, slender and 
with the mandibles a little arched. Sternum, rather slightly built. Tongue, thin, horny, acuminate, bifid and fringed 
with cilia for about one-third of its terminal length. 
