What bird is that?

by Frank M. Chapman

CREEPERS. FAMILY CERTHIIDÆ

BROWN CREEPER
Certhia familiaris americana. [Case 2], Fig. 59

Tail-feathers with stiffened points, bill slender and slightly carved. L. 5¾.

Range. Nests from northern New England and south along the Alleghanies to North Carolina; winters south to Florida.

Washington, common W.V., Sept. 22-May 1. Ossining, tolerably common W.V., Sept. 20-May 7. Cambridge, common T.V., rather common W.V.. Sept. 25-May 1; one summer record N. Ohio, common W.V., Oct. 1-May 9. Glen Ellyn, tolerably common W.V., Sept. 15-May 19. SE. Minn., common T.V., uncommon W.V., Sept. 25-Mch. 30.

To see the Brown Creeper is to knew him but so inconspicuous is he that unless you chance to observe him drop from one to tree near the foot of another, you may overlook the little figure creeping spirally upward. Nor are his thin, weak, squeaky call-notes more likely to attract attention than he is himself. A true bird of the bark, he not only hunts upon it but builds his nest behind it, laying 5-8 white, brown-spotted eggs in May.

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