A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

It is found chiefly in thickets, but this is probably owing to the fact that there its food is principally to be obtained. It is occasionally seen in more open country, and has been known to breed in the immediate vicinity of a dwelling.

Wilson regarded this bird as a true Creeper, and objected to its being classed as a Warbler. He even denied to it the possession of any song. In this he was quite mistaken. Though never loud, prolonged, or powerful, the song of this Warbler is very sweet and pleasing. It begins to sing from its first appearance in May, and continues to repeat its brief refrain at intervals almost until its departure in August and September. Nuttall speaks of it as being at first a monotonous ditty, and as uttered in a strong but shrill and filing tone. These notes, he adds, as the season advances, become more mellow and warbling, and, though feeble, are pleasing, and are similar to those of the Redstart. But this statement does not do full justice to the varied and agreeable notes with which, in early spring, these birds accompany their lively hunt for food among the tops of the forest trees. They are diversified and sweet, and seem suggestive of a genial and happy nature.

These birds make their appearance in New England early in May, and remain there, among the thick woods, until the middle of October, and in the Southern States until the verge of winter.

Their movements in search of food are like those of the Titmice, keeping the feet together and moving in a succession of short rapid hops up the trunks of trees and along the limbs, passing again to the bottom by longer flights than in the ascent. They make but short flights from tree to tree, but are apparently not incapable of more prolonged ones.

So far as I know, these birds always build their nests on the ground. Mr. Nuttall found one in Roxbury containing young about a week old. The nest was on the ground, on the surface of a shelving rock, made of coarse strips of the inner bark of the Abies canadensis externally, and internally of soft decayed leaves and dry grasses, and lined with a thin layer of black hair. The parents fed their young in his presence with affectionate attention, and manifested no uneasiness, creeping, head downward, about the trunks of the neighboring trees, carrying large smooth caterpillars to their young. The nests of this bird are strongly and compactly built, externally of coarse strips of various kinds of bark, and lined within with hair and fine stems of grasses. In several instances I have known them to be roofed over at the top, in the manner of the Golden-crowned Thrush. They measure about three inches in their external diameter, and are equally deep.

The nests appear to be a favorite receptacle for the parasitic eggs of the Cow-Bunting. Mr. Robert Ridgway obtained a nest at Mt. Carmel, Ill., in which were four eggs of the Molothrus and only two of the parent birds; and Mr. T. M. Trippe, of Orange, N. Y., also found a nest of this Creeper in which were but three of its own and five of the parasite.

The eggs vary in shape from a rounded to an oblong oval, and in size from .69 to .75 of an inch in length, and from .51 to .53 of an inch in breadth. Their ground-color is a creamy-white, to which the deep red markings impart an apparently pinkish tinge. They are marked more or less profusely with bright red dots, points, and blotches. These vary in number and in distribution. In some they are very fine, and are chiefly confined to the larger end. In others they are larger, more diffused, and occasionally there are intermingled marks and blotches of slate-color. The effect of these variations is, at times, to give the appearance of greater differences to these eggs than really exists, the ground-color and the shade of the red markings really presenting but little modifications.

The color of the young nestlings is closely assimilated to that of the objects that usually surround the nest, and helps to conceal them. Mr. Burroughs once came accidentally upon a nest with young of this species. He says: “A Black and White Creeping Warbler suddenly became much alarmed as I approached a crumbling old stump in a dense part of the forest. He alighted upon it, chirped sharply, ran up and down its sides, and finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground at the foot of the stump, and in such a position that the color of the young harmonized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about. My eye rested upon them for the second time before I made them out. They hugged the nest very closely, but as I put down my hand they all scampered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds to place themselves almost within my reach.”

Section VERMIVOREÆ.

Genus PROTONOTARIA, Baird.