CHAPTER XXV 



THE TREE-CREEPER 



The fenman often sees a little bird running up his apple- 

 trees or the old stumps in the hedgerows, climbing up a few 

 feet, then stopping to feed hurriedly, and then hastening on 

 again, supporting itself on its tail and with its sharp claws. 

 It is the tree-creeper. 



There is not much to know about him, except you may 

 see him feeding on the tree-trunks, running up like a mouse 

 either when trees loom large and green in summer or look 

 small and bare in winter. Sometimes he travels round the 

 tree in a spiral, especially if the weather be fine ; but when 

 the wind blows you will see him work under the lee of the 

 trunk, for most little birds dislike wind — it ruffles their 

 plumage; indeed, many water-fowl sit head to wind chiefly 

 on that account. 



Though the tree-creeper builds every year, to find his 

 nest is a rare matter, for 'tis generally placed in some dark 

 little cavern whose mouth is concealed by ivy or other 

 greenery. The only nest 1 have seen came from a hollow 

 apple-tree, and is a curious structure, composed almost 

 entirely of moss and old cobwebs, those dust-powdered old 

 draperies that hang from deserted barn rafters, the whole 

 lined with grass, upon which rest the red-spotted eggs, 

 never to be mistaken if once seen. 



A mysterious shy bird, rarely giving one a chance to 

 study his simple life, the tree-creeper is the bark-bird : 

 as constant a companion to the old tree as the moss and 

 polished ivy. 



