Summer Birds of the Redwoods, 



Its manners are much less animated as 

 it quietly creeps about the great red- 

 wood trunks, uttering a low, faint, lisp- 

 ing monosyllable. It is the western 

 brown creeper, a bird more nearly 

 related to the kinglets and wrens than 

 to the woodpeckers, despite its habit of 

 climbing about the bark. Its bill is too 

 curved and slender for boring holes, so 

 the little fellow contents himself with 

 such insect food as he can pick up in 

 the crevices of the bark. A sharp eye is 

 necessary to detect this pygmy of a 

 bird, as its back is streaked with brown 

 and gray in perfect harmony with the 

 tree trunk. So perfectly do its colors 

 blend with its surroundings that I have 

 sometimes been unable to distinguish 

 the bird when looking directly at it, at 

 the distance of a few yards. 



Of all the California birds, the west- 

 ern tanager is perhaps the most brilliant. 

 It is a quiet, retiring species, although 

 not especially shy, and even ventures 

 out of the seclusion of the forest, at 

 189 



