36 DOWN NIGHTINGALE VALLEY: 
And yet these little birds will sit tight upon 
their eggs, sometimes even flying at the 
_ intruding mortal who dares to molest them 
at the nest. 
Waiting quietly as we did in Nightingale 
Valley, another little bird, the creeper, also 
favoured us with a view of himself. We 
first became aware of his presence by the 
little ‘ twee, twee’ that he kept on uttering. 
Flying from a tree, the stem and boughs of 
which he had completely searched for food, 
we saw him, selecting another for the same 
purpose, go to the bottom of it with an 
undulating flight, and then rapidly ascend in 
little jerky creeps (a favourite way with him), 
using his tail as a support, like the wood- 
pecker. He quickly saw us, however, and 
_Immediately hid himself, and his ‘twee, 
twee’ was soon far away. He is rather an 
odd looking little bird with a curved beak 
most suitable for inserting into all the holes 
and openings that he finds, and he is full 
of restless activity in searching for his insect 
food. I have frequently seen him in gardens 
