BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 423 



Family CERTHIID^. 



CERTHIA FAMILIARIS AMERICANA (Bonaparte). (726.) 



BROWN CREEPER. 



The Brown Creeper is a nervous, restless little fellow, who 

 comes so near being a permanent resident, that he only goes 

 barely far enough away in winter to be amongst us again very 

 early in the spring, an occasional individual lingering through 

 that inclement and vigorous season. Recorded observations 

 here give its arrivals in spring, between the first and tenth of 

 April, and the departures between the first and tenth of 

 December, but as already intimated, there are wide exceptions 

 from these dates and in the more southern counties it has been 

 observed early in March. 



Its habits have been so beautifully described by Wilson, that 

 I repeat some passages referring to them. When describing 

 its proclivity to follow the Hairy Woodpecker, nuthatches, 

 and Chickadee through the woods, "gleaning up those insects 

 which their more powerful bills had alarmed and exposed," he 

 says: "As the party advances from tree to tree our little 

 gleaner seems to observe a good deal of regularity in his pro- 

 ceedings; for I have almost always observed that he alights on 

 the body near the root of the tree, and directs his course with 

 great nimbleness upward to the higher branches, sometimes 

 spirially, often in a direct line, moving rapidly and uniformly 

 along with his tail bent to the tree, and not in the hopping 

 manner of the Woodpecker, whom he far surpasses in dexter- 

 ity of climbing, running along the lower side of the horizontal 

 branches with surprising ease. If any person be near when he 

 alights, he is sure to take the opposite side of the tree, moving 

 around as he moves, so as to prevent him from getting more 

 than a transient glimpse of him. 



The best method for outwitting him, if you are alone, is, as 

 soon as he alights and disappears behind the trunk, take your 

 stand behind an adjoining one, and keep a sharp lookout, twen- 

 ty or thirty feet up the oody of the tree he is upon, for he gen- 

 erally mounts very regularly to a considerable hight, examin- 

 ing the whole way as he advances. In a minute or two, hearing 

 all still, he will make his appearance on one side or the other 

 of the tree and give you an opportunity of observing him. " 



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