January 
He starts near the bottom of a tree, crawls 
up just about so fast and so far, and then flies 
to the bottom of another, only to repeat the 
programme. By close application to business 
(and nothing but sickness can stop him) I find 
he can do a tree in just about fifty seconds, or 
seventy-two trees in an hour, and in the twenty- 
four hours (as far as I know he works nights 
and Sundays) seventeen hundred and twenty- 
eight trees. If he would only sing or chirp at 
his work, or flutter his wings, or turn his head 
occasionally, it would change the impression 
marvellously. Only now and then you hear a 
faint sz¢p, that cheers neither himself nor the 
spectator, and has a drearily mechanical and 
conscientious sound. Every other bird I have 
seen will at times show joy or sorrow or fear by 
its manner or song, but the creeper has only 
one aim and ambition, and no time for senti- 
ment. If in the transmigration of souls Sisy- 
phus was ever incarnated in bird-form, we cer- 
tainly have him here, neatly encased in feathers, 
for itis nothing but climb, climb, climb, and 
never getting there. 
One of the thousand evidences of nature’s 
grand consistency is shown by the conformity 
of color in the plumage of birds with the pre- 
29 
