TREE-CREEPER. 59 



Thomas Garnett {Mar/. Nat. Hist., 1832,) and he saj'S 

 of it, " not in winter so frequently observed as they 

 otherwise would be, in consequence of their associating 

 at that time with the different species of Titmouse, and 

 using the same call-note, which is very different from 

 that used by them when they are in single pairs, as is 

 the case when they are not in company with the Tit- 

 mice." Although both in the Eibble and Hodder 

 valleys the Creeper breeds every year and may frequently 

 be seen in winter, it is now far from " very common " as 

 Mr. Garnett puts it. Mr. J. F. Brockholes in 1859 con- 

 sidered it more rare than formerly near Liverpool, and 

 I have it reported as much scarcer near Urmston and 

 Bury than it used to be. Mr. H. Miller finds it breed- 

 ing in the woods about Clayton-le-Moors, and Mr. John 

 Weld sees it the year through at Chipping. Near 

 Goosnargh and St. Michael's-on-Wyre it has only been 

 observed in winter, but the nest has been taken at 

 Nateb}', near Garstang, and there it occurs regularly, 

 though not numerously. It is not common in the 

 Preston district, and in Furness, according to W. B. K., 

 Mr. W. A. Durnford's informant, it occurs but rarely. 

 It is an interesting bird to watch when feeding : so 

 rapid in its movements, so seemingly intent on the 

 business in hand, no sooner has it wound its spiral track 

 up the trunk of one tree than it takes its short flight to 

 the bole of the next, putting it through the same process 

 of examination, and occasionally following the course of 

 a branch, though always clinging to the under side and 

 hardly ever appearing on the upper. The nest is very 

 often placed in trees overgrown with ivy, in a crevice 

 between the ivy- stem and the trunk, and is very fully 

 lined with feathers. The eggs are six in number, and 

 are usually laid the latter half of April. 



