BROWN CREEPER 67 



lower in pitch, and these notes are repeated immediately, the six notes 

 constituting the entire song. This may be varied a little by dropping 

 one or two of the short notes or varying the pitch, but a majority of 

 creeper songs are built on this plan." 



Frank Bolles (1891) gives a word of praise to the creeper's song. 

 He says : "While watching and admiring these gay survivors of the 

 winter [two butterflies and a moth], we heard a brown creeper sing. 

 It was a rare treat. The song is singularly strong, full of meaning 

 and charm, especially when the size of its tiny performer is remem- 

 bered." 



Field TYiarhs. — The brown creeper is a tiny bird not much over 5 

 inches long and nearly half of his length is taken up by his long tail. 

 He is brown on the back, faintly streaked with pale gray, and beneath 

 he is pure white. His beak is long, needle-sharp, and bent downward 

 in a long curve. His wings, rather long for so small a bird, make him 

 appear larger when he opens them in flight. 



Enemies. — ^William Brewster (1936) describes the pursuit of a 

 creeper by a northern shrike. He says : 



When I first saw him he was in hot pursuit of one of the Brown Creepers and 

 both birds were about over the middle of the river and scarce a yard apart. The 

 Creeper made straight for the big elm which stands at the eastern end of the 

 bridge. When he reached it, the Shrike's bill was within 6 inches of his tail, 

 but he nevertheless escaped, for an instant after the two birds doubled around 

 behind the trunk the Shrike rose to the topmost spray of the elm, where he sat 

 for a minute or more, gazing intently downward, evidently watching for the 

 Creeper. The latter, no doubt, had flattened himself against the bark after 

 the usual practice of his kind when badly frightened and he had the nerve and 

 good sense to remain perfectly still for at least 10 minutes. My eyes were no 

 better than the Shrike's, for it was in vain that I scanned the trunk over and 

 over with the greatest care. Peeling sure, however, that the Creeper was really 

 there, I waited patiently until at the end of the period just named he began run- 

 ning up the trimk, starting at the very point where I had seen him disappear. 

 It was one of the prettiest demonstrations of the effectiveness of protection col- 

 oration that I have ever witnessed. 



Bradford Torrey (1885) tells thus of the defensive response of a 

 creeper to the scream of a hawk : 



It was the last day of my visit, and I had just taken my farewell look at the 

 enchanting prospect from the summit, when I heard the lisp of a brown creeper. 

 This was the first of his kind that I had seen here, and I stopped immediately 

 to watch him, in hopes he would sing. Creeper-like he tried one tree after another 

 in quick succession, till at last, while he was exploring a dead spruce which had 

 toppled half-way to the ground, a hawk screamed loudly overhead. Instantly the 

 little creature flattened himself against the trunk, spreading his wings to 

 their very utmost and ducking his head until, though I had been all the while 

 eying his motions through a glass at the distance of only a few rods, it was almost 

 impossible to believe that yonder tiny brown fleck upon the bark was really a bird 

 and not a lichen. He remained in this posture for perhaps a minute, only putting 

 up his head two or three times to peer cautiously round. 



