TREE-CLLMBING BIRDS 151 



Nuthatches and Creepers would appear to fall into 

 a natural group. 



In its choice of a nesting site, however, the little 

 Tree-creeper — it is one of the four smallest birds 

 found in Great Britain — stands entirely alone. 

 When the ancient elm-trees begin to feel the stress 

 and storm of years, strips of their rugged bark are 

 often partly torn from the trunks. These, depend- 

 ing, form a shelter exactly fitted to the Creeper's 

 needs. Hither it brings its burden of twigs, which 

 it places between the inner bark and the bared wood, 

 and then, little by little, it rears the superstructure 

 of fine grass and feathers. The nest is by no means 

 easy to find, for sometimes the bark is so slightly 

 displaced that it affords the merest crevice into 

 which the bird may creep. If the sheltering husk 

 be torn away, the nest is often seen to preserve the 

 odd contours of the space into which it has been 

 fixed. 



The Tree-creeper never alights upon the thinner 

 branches of trees, after the manner of other small 

 birds. Even its slight, shrill song, which is, how- 

 ever, rarely heard, is uttered when the bird is cling- 

 ing to the surface of the bark. Its mode of progres- 

 sion from tree to tree is always interesting, and 

 may easily be watched ; for although the Creeper 

 is one of the least obtrusive of birds, it appears to 

 have little dread of the observer, often approaching 

 close to the place where he is standing. 



Wherever great trees are found, in woodland or 

 hedgerow, a faint "chip-cheep," as though pro- 

 ceedino- from some verv voung^ bird, may often be 

 heard from the upper branches. Soon a small brown 



