SITTIXri CLOSE. 



l!i9 



Clialiiucli which did nut object to hciiiii' caii<^lit on 

 her nest hy a bov, yet would not allow us to photo- 

 <i;raph hei'. We tried niorninu-, noon, and niiilit in 

 vain. I have known a bird of this s})ecies have every 

 feather in her tail pulled out, whilst sittin_<i- on her 

 eg'<^"S, by a mischievous 

 lad who tried to catcli 

 Iier, and yet bring' off 

 her young. 



Her nest was so in- 

 securely affixed against 

 the trunk of a huge tree 

 that it began to topple 

 over directly she com- 

 menced to sit, and would 

 undoubtedly have fallen 

 had not my brother 

 fastened it u]) by driv- 

 ing a })in (jr two through 

 its side into the bark of 

 the tree. 



I remember a case of 

 a Tree Creeper being 

 cauglit on her nest, situ- 

 ated behind a piece of 

 loose bark hanging to 

 the trunk of a light- 

 ning-struck elm, and conveyed half a mile in 

 a man's jacket pocket in order tliat she miglit 

 be shown to a little sick boy who took an intelli- 

 gent interest in l)irds. Ui)on being returned, she 

 resumed her duties towards her young as if nothing- 

 whatever had hai)pened. We afterwards photo- 

 graphed one of her young ones as it left the nest 

 and began to climb up the bark of the tree in 

 which it had been bred. 



TREE CREEPER. 



