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.
NUTHATCHES. FAMILY SITTIDÆ
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH
Sitta carolinensis carolinensis. [Case 2], Figs. 38, 39; [Case 4], Fig. 65
Crown black, cheeks white; breast white; the female with a gray crown. L. 6.
Range. Nests from Gulf States to Canada; a Permanent Resident. The Florida White-breasted Nuthatch (S. c. atkinsi) a slightly smaller form in which the female as well as the male has the crown black, is the race inhabiting Florida, the Atlantic coast to South Carolina and the Gulf coast to Mississippi.
Washington, common T.V. and W.V., less common S.R. Ossining, common P.R. Cambridge, P.R., rare in summer, uncommon in winter, common in migrations; most numerous in Oct. and Nov. N. Ohio, common P.R. Glen Ellyn, fairly common P.R. SE. Minn., common P.R.