WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 295 
summer home among the northern spruces and firs it 
has an exquisitely pure, tender song of four notes, dy- 
ing away in an indescribably plaintive cadence, like 
the soft sigh of the wind among the pine boughs.” 
At all times an unsocial bird, the Creeper ; 
is seldom, even at nesting time, seen in com- & 
pany with another of his kind either male or : 
female. Apparently too busy for any lover's 
nonsense, he yet does indulge in it upon oc- 
casion and, like all drudges, when he wishes 
to be sentimental he succeeds only in being 
serio-comic. With utmost gravity he offers 
his sweetheart a fat grub, cocking his head 
sidewise as he sees it disappear down her 
ty 
vay 
~ 
throat. She puts up her bill for more, 4 4 
which he pretends to give, necessarily at ‘ 
long range on account of the slender curve 
of his beak. Then he goes on with 
his task of hunting, while she tags close 
behind teasing for more after 
the manner of a hungry nest- 
ling. This does not last long. 
The business of house-build- 
ing begins. His little home ~~ 2*- 
is hidden snugly behind the = vo¢q gimpna CREEPER. 
bark of a dead pine tree high —c wre ogors his sweetheart a fat 
up from the ground, but higher 7" 
still from the same tree he warbles his queer little love 
song, when the glorious dawn of a June morning moves 
even his plodding soul to music. 
‘ad 
pA 
ie 
