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Black and White Warbler or Creeper
Adult male--Streaked all over with black and white, except middle of belly, which is white.
Adult female--Very similar, but with almost imperceptible brownish tinge. Length--5.30.
Breeding Range--Eastern States, from Virginia and Kansas northward.
The nests are built on the ground except in very rare instances, when they are placed in holes in trees (Minot). The material used consists of leaves, grass, fine roots, and thin strips of bark, with the lining of hairs. The eggs, 3 to 5 in number, are white, spotted with brown and purple, most of the spots forming a wreath around the larger end. Size--.65 x .55. See Fig. 17, Plate C.
It is impossible to confound these warblers with any other of their family; the colour alone is quite distinctive, as also is their method of creeping along the tree trunks or branches. This is done by no other warbler, except to a very limited extent by the worm-eating. The nuthatches and brown creeper also "creep," but with these there is no chance of confusion. The nests are carefully concealed, generally at the foot of a tree, under a log or projecting stone, in thickly wooded places. The eggs are laid about the third week in May.