Chapter X 



WINTER COMRADES 



Brown Creeper, Nuthatches, Tits, 

 Kinglets, Jay and Crow 



"Winter comrades, well betide ye, 

 Friendly trunk and hollow hide ye. 

 Hemlock branches interlace, 

 When the northern blast gives chase. " 



— Edith M. Thomas. 



Brown Creeper. This little bird is the only 

 American representative of a family which num- 

 bers in all the world a dozen varieties, but he 

 may be regarded as typical of his kind. In the 

 Northern States he is found more frequently 

 in winter, and is probably a permanent resident 

 throughout that portion of his range. 



I often iind Brown Creepers in the winter 

 woods in company with Chickadees, Nuthatches 

 and Kinglets, so busily searching the bark of 

 tree trunks for the eggs and larvae of various 

 insects that this seems their only purpose in 

 life, and the fact is they are rarely seen doing 

 anything else. From the foot of a tree he winds 

 his way upward in spirals, supported in his 

 course by the sharp spines of his tail feathers, 

 which he uses as a brace, like a Woodpecker. 

 The trunk searched to his satisfaction, down he 

 darts, with a faint metallic squeak, to the foot 



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