MINOR SONGSTERS. 163 
all day for his daily bread; and yet even of 
him it is true that “ the life is more than meat.” 
He has his inward joys, his affectionate de- 
lights, which no outward infelicity can touch. 
A bird who thinks nothing of staying by his 
nest and his mate at the sacrifice of his life is 
not to be written down a dullard or a drudge, 
merely because his dress is plain and his occu- 
pation unromantic. He has a right to sing, for 
he has something within him to inspire the 
strain. 
There are descriptions of the creeper’s music 
which liken it to a wren’s. I am sorry that 
I have myself heard it only on one occasion : 
then, however, so far was it from being wren- 
like that it might rather have been the work of 
one of the less proficient warblers, —a some- 
what long opening note followed by a hurried 
series of shorter ones, the whole given in a 
sharp, thin voice, and having nothing to recom- 
mend it to notice, considered simply as music. 
All the while the bird kept on industriously 
with his journey up the tree; and it is not in 
the least unlikely that he may have another 
and better song, which he reserves for times of 
more leisure.1 
Our American wood-warblers are all to be 
1 Since this was written I have heard the creeper sing a tune 
very different from the one described above. See p. 227. 
