BE OWN CHEEPER 349 



Their business on the plowed gronnd is to 

 pick up insects and larvae, hut they are often 

 ruthlessly shot for sport or gun practice. I saw 

 a wretched case of this sort one day when driving 

 in the country. The report of a gun was fol- 

 lowed by smoke rising over a plowed field, and 

 then a flock of the poor little creatures rose cry- 

 ing into the air. The gunner came up, gazing 

 vacantly over the field, and a farmer who was 

 plowing there held up his horses out of idle curi- 

 osity to see what luck the sportsman had had, and 

 would doubtless have been amazed if told that 

 the birds shot were doing anything that affected 

 his interests. 



Brown Creeper : Certhia familiaris americana. 



Bill curved ; upper parts brownish, streaked with white ; rump 

 pale reddish brow'u ; one light wing- bar ; under parts white ; 

 tail feathers stiff and sharply pointed. Length, about 5^ inches. 



Geographic Distribution. — Eastern North America ; breeds 

 from Minnesota, New York, and Maine northward ; winters 

 from northern United States south as far as the Gulf states. 



This is one of the unique little birds whose ways 

 are all his own. To be sure, the Nuthatches and 

 Black and White Creeper affect tree trunks, but 

 not so exclusively that their dress and tools de- 

 clare their trade. The Brown Creeper is bark 

 color to begin with, and then his bill is curved to 

 better reach the insects and e^-o'S under the bark 

 of tree trunks (compare Figs. 196-200, p. 350) ; 

 his hind toe-nail is elongated, to better bear his 



