122 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



direct, starting near the ground, creeping closer to the trunk 

 than a Nuthatch. Now and then it makes a sideways hop, 

 attracted by some promising crack or' a lateral branch; it 

 pushes its scimitar-shaped bill into a narrow crack, delicately 

 picks out its quarry with the needle point, or wrestles with 

 some chnging insect. It will twist and pull, bracing itself 

 against the trunk with feet and stiff tail, and is seldom defeated. 

 The protectively coloured weevil, the crouching spider clinging 

 to its web, the cocoon enshrouded pupa do not elude its keen 

 eye. Reaching a branch it travels outwards beneath it, quite 

 as happy upside down as when ascending ; at the end it stops 

 for a moment to utter a few lisping notes, then with a drooping 

 flight descends to the next hole. Sometimes it climbs in a 

 spiral, but this largely depends upon the set of the bark ; it 

 seldom, as is asserted, slips round to keep out of view like a 

 squirrel, for it is an indifferent rather than tame bird. Dense 

 woodlands are its home, but in winter when mixed flocks of 

 tits and Goldcrests are wandering through the woods one or 

 two Creepers usually accompany them, gleaning what the 

 others miss. It will visit gardens and more open country. 

 An old gate-stump or a rock-face likely to harbour insects is 

 examined as well as trees and their branches, and at times it 

 will take an insect on the wing. The Creeper seems ever in 

 motion, but I have seen it stop to snooze with its bill resting 

 on the bark, and in this position it roosts at night. 



The usual note, uttered when it flies or when it has extracted 

 a stubborn insect, is a shrill cheeps cheep, and it has a sharp 

 call, zit. The song is a simple see, see, see, sissy-pee j the state- 

 ment that the song period is from June to August is misleading, 

 for the bird sings constantly in winter ; I have notes of every 

 month except September and October, and probably it occasion- 

 ally sings in these. The Creeper is one of the few birds which 

 eat the destructive coccids ; the female mussel-scale, too well 

 hidden for most birds, does not escape it. Prof. Newstead 



