150 BEHAVIOR OF THE CREEPER TOWARDS MAN 



may be sure of a feast. Yet its solitary habits are always con- 

 spicuous, and are exhibited by its choice, especially during the 

 breeding season, of the depths of the forest for its home, and 

 by the little attention it pays to other birds. At other seasons, 

 however, it betrays more familiarity, and is occasionally seen 

 in orchards, gardens, and lawns near dwelling-houses. The 

 degree of shyness or timidity it shows in the presence of man, 

 and of the pains it takes to elude observation, has been vari- 

 ously rated by authors. Dr. Brewer alludes to the current 

 statement that the Creeper, on perceiving itself to be watched, 

 moves to the opposite side of the trunk, as lacking foundation, 

 and is inclined to the opinion that the bird's movements are 

 not due to caution, but simply to restlessness, behaving always 

 found them unconscious or regardless of his presence. Mj' 

 experience goes to confirm this. While I do not mean to assert 

 that a Creeper may not be frightened, and instinctively scuttle 

 around the trunk, or fly away, I have often stood within a few 

 feet of one of the birds, and watched its movements with per- 

 fect ease; the course of its cork-screw journey brought it into 

 view as often as it was hidden, and the bird appeared all the 

 ■while to consider me of no account whatever. Dr. Brewer's 

 remark was made apropos of a statement supposed to be Dr. 

 Kennerly's. The paragraph sounded very familiar to me, and 

 I thought I had seen it before — in short, 1 find tHat Dr. K. 

 copied the statement almost word for word from Nuttall, for- 

 getting to use the customary quotation marks. 



As already stated, the bird in nesting occupies natural cavi- 

 ties of the wood, or deserted Woodpeckers' holes, and similar 

 retreats, in which is deposited a lining composed of grasses, 

 lichens, or decayed wood, usually mingled with the hair of 

 quadrupeds or the feathers of birds, the whole mass having 

 little consistenc3\ It appears to nest with equal readiness at 

 different elevations, sometimes selecting a rotten stump close 

 to the ground, at other times finding a hole at a considerable 

 height. It is represented as a brave and devoted parent, 

 regardless of its own danger when its nest is threatened. The 

 eggs are stated to vary in number from five to eight or even 

 nine. They resemble those of the Nuthatches and most Tit- 

 mice in being white, sprinkled v/ith reddish-brown dots, and 

 others of purplish or neutral tint; the dots being rather SH^ar- 

 ingly distributed, though tending at times to wreathe about the 

 larger end. The Creeper being a slender-bodied bird in com- 



