_Certhia fusca_, BARTON, Fragments of the Natural History of
Pennsylvania, 1799, II. _Certhia familiaris_, VIEILL. Ois. Am.
Sept. II, 1807, 70 (not the European bird); also of WILSON and
AUDUBON.—MAYNARD, Birds E. Mass. 1870, 93. _Certhia americana_,
BONAP. Comp. List. 1838.—REICH. Handb. I, 1853, 265, pl. dcxv,
figs. 4102, 4103.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 372; Review,
89.—MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858, 105.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. Rep.
XII, II, 1859, 192.—HAMLIN, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. 1864—66, 80.
_Certhia mexicana_, COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 58.
SP. CHAR. Bill about the length of the head. Above dark brown, with a
slightly rufous shade, each feather streaked centrally, but not
abruptly, with whitish; rump rusty. Beneath almost silky-white; the
under tail-coverts with a faint rusty tinge. A white streak over the
eye; the ear-coverts streaked with whitish. Tail-feathers brown
centrally, the edges paler yellowish-brown. Wings with a transverse
bar of pale reddish-white across both webs. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60;
tail, 2.90. (No. 827.)
_Young._ (5945, Steilacoom, W. T.; Dr. J. S. Cooper.) Resembling the
adult, but streaks above indistinct, and the feathers there tipped
indistinctly with blackish; the rufous restricted to the upper
tail-coverts. Breast and jugulum with very minute blackish wavings or
indistinct bars.
HAB. Whole of United States, to Red River Settlement.
Specimens from the far west are purer white beneath, much as in
_costæ_, but those from the northwest coast have the white tinged with
light rusty. Though purer white below, these specimens are much
browner above than Eastern ones,—sometimes more so than in
_familiaris_, but then there is the yellowish crissum never seen in
this “species,” and the proportions are quite different. Thus it will
be seen the _C. americana_ may always be distinguished from the other
forms; when most resembling _costæ_ in the grayish tints of the upper
plumage (as in Eastern examples), the lower parts are less purely
white, and the bill and claws smaller; when like it in the proportions
and pure white of the lower parts (as in Western specimens), the
colors above are altogether more brown. The yellowish crissum of
_americanus_ will also distinguish them. Though often resembling
_familiaris_ in the colors of the upper parts, the latter may always
be distinguished by its ashy lower parts without yellowish crissum,
the shorter tail, with its less acute feathers, and stouter bill.
_C. mexicanus_ is still more different in colors, for which see that
variety.
HABITS. Our common Creeper, so closely resembling the Creeper of
Europe as by many to be supposed identical with it, is distributed
over the whole of North America, from the Gulf of Mexico to high
northern latitudes. At different seasons it may be found in every one
of the several States and Territories, yet it is never very abundant.
The Smithsonian possesses specimens from various parts of the country,
from Georgia to Fort Steilacoom on the Pacific, but of these none
appear to have been secured during the period of reproduction. Dr.
Heermann found them very common in the more mountainous districts of
California. Dr. Cooper found these birds abundant in the forests of
Washington Territory, but difficult to detect from the similarity of
their color to that of the bark over which they crept. They were
apparently constant residents in that Territory. Dr. Suckley, who
obtained several specimens of this species in the oak groves in the
vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, states that in their habits the Western
birds resemble those of the Atlantic States.
Mr. Ridgway found this Creeper inhabiting both the pine forests of the
Sierra Nevada, where it was the more common, and also, in winter,
among the willows of the river valleys. He did not meet with it east
of the Truckee River, nor until he had reached the Wahsatch Mountains.
Dr. Woodhouse found the Brown Creeper generally distributed throughout
the Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, and California, and adds that
it was especially abundant in the San Francisco Mountains of New
Mexico.
Dr. Cooper states that he has met with this form in the winter
throughout the higher mountains and among the Coast Range as far south
as Santa Cruz. He found them chiefly frequenting the coniferous trees,
creeping up and down their trunks and branches, searching for insects
in their crevices, and so nearly resembling the bark in their general
color, that they can be detected only with great difficulty, except
when in motion.
He adds that their notes are shrill and wiry, and are often heard when
the bird is scarcely visible, without a careful search, their cry
appearing to be from a greater distance than the real performer. In
March, Dr. Cooper heard them giving out a faint but sharp-toned song,
resembling that of a Wren. If Dr. Cooper is correct in his account of
the notes, they do not correspond with those of our Eastern bird.
Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the birds observed by him near the 35th
parallel, states that he found our common Creeper very abundant among
the rough-barked cedars in the Aztec Mountains. It usually attracted
notice, and its place of retreat was discovered, by his hearing its
quick and sharp notes. A close and careful search generally enabled
him to perceive it proceeding leisurely upward and downward, in
straight or spiral lines, toward the top of the tree, dodging
dexterously to the opposite side from the observer, and only resuming
its occupation when assured of solitude and safety.
The observations of Dr. Kennerly, if they are to be received as
characteristic of the Western Creepers, do not correspond with those
of our Eastern birds, as far as we have observed them. None of our
birds are more easily approached, and when they are pursuing their
search for food, none are more regardless of observation. The
statement that our Creeper, when watched, moves to the opposite side
of the tree from the looker-on, has found a certain currency in our
books. We are, however, of the opinion that this is owing to its
restless activity, prompting it to constant changes of place and
position, and not to its timidity or caution. We have uniformly found
them either unconscious or regardless of our near presence.
They are solitary in their habits, and frequent, especially in the
summer, deep woods, searching for their favorite food in high places
where it is difficult to reach them, but this is no necessary evidence
of their shyness. They often hunt for their food in very exposed
places, with equal courage and recklessness. It is an active, restless
bird, associating with Titmice and the smaller Woodpeckers, moving
with great rapidity from side to side and from place to place. They
breed in hollow trees, in the deserted holes of the Woodpeckers, and
in the decayed stumps and branches of trees. Their nest is a loose
aggregation of soft, warm materials, not interwoven, but simply
collected with regard to no other requisite than warmth.
In the summer of 1851 our party, in their visit to one of the smaller
Grand Menan Islands, was so fortunate as to meet with the nest of this
bird. It was built in a decayed birch-tree, only a few feet from the
ground, and contained five eggs nearly ready to hatch. This was on the
20th of June. The nest was an intermingling of decayed wood, the fur
of small quadrupeds, and feathers, but with so little adherence or
consistency of form that it was impossible to retain the materials in
position after removal.
So far from evincing any timidity, the birds refused to leave their
nest, and could hardly be prevented from following it when removed
from the woods to a house on the island. One of our companions,
returning to the woods in order to secure the birds for the sake of
identification, found the pair still lingering round the place of
their rifled nest. Upon his approach they began to circle round his
head with reproachful cries, and continued to keep so close to him
that it was impossible to shoot one without mutilating it. At length
one of the birds alighted on a small branch held over his head by a
lad who accompanied him, and in this position was secured by shooting
it with a pistol loaded with the finest shot. Its mate could have been
secured, as she persisted in pursuing them, but she was not molested.
Throughout there was not a trace of timidity on the part of either
bird, but the most reckless and daring devotion.
Besides the single call-note or the sharp outcry with which the
Creepers signalize their movements, and which they utter from time to
time as they rapidly and busily move up and down the trunks and limbs,
or flit from tree to tree, they have been generally regarded as having
no song. But this is not the fact. The careful observations of Mr.
William Brewster of Cambridge have satisfied him that these birds have
a very distinct and varied song. During the winter these birds are not
uncommon in the vicinity of Boston, coming about the houses with all
the tameness and confidence of the _Parus atricapillus_, and permit a
very near approach. They are very easily attracted by suspending from
a piazza a piece of fat meat. Mr. Brewster has observed them commence
singing as early as the 14th of March. Their notes are varied and
warbling and somewhat confused; some of them are loud, powerful, and
surpassingly sweet, others are more feeble and plaintive; their song
usually ends with their accustomed cry, which may be represented by
_crēē-crēē-crē-ēp_. Mr. Brewster, besides repeatedly hearing them sing
in Massachusetts in the early spring, has also listened to their song
in Maine in the month of June.
Their eggs are small in proportion to the size of the bird, are nearly
oval in shape, with a grayish-white ground, sparingly sprinkled with
small, fine, red and reddish-brown spots. They measure .55 by .43 of
an inch.
Certhia familiaris, var. mexicana, GLOG.