IC)2 Kennard and McKechnie, Brotvn Creeper. \ a*t 



He did not see the birds, much less follow them, but only was 

 able to note the direction in which they apparently flew. 



Two days later, however, on May 14, after finding one nest in a 

 swamp two miles away, we determined to have a look for this pair, 

 which we guessed were probably breeding in a certain cedar 

 swamp. The quest seemed nearly hopeless, but we had an after- 

 noon to spare, and waded in accordingly. 



The water was deep, the trees were thick and the swamp par- 

 ticularly dark, as it was cloudy, while the leaves that were then 

 bursting forth added very materially to our difficulties. However, 

 after an hour, we at last thought we heard one of the call notes of 

 the Creeper, a note that closely resembles that soft call which 

 Chickadees often utter when feeding and which differs somewhat 

 from the Creeper's ordinary Kinglet-like call. After considerable 

 search we finally discovered the Creeper, and the discovery seemed 

 to be mutual, for he allowed us to light our pipes and sit down and 

 watch him for about fifteen minutes, during which he never stirred 

 until, apparently making up his mind that we were harmless, he 

 moved on. The trees and bushes were so thick, and his move- 

 ments so rapid, that it was impossible to keep an eye on him all 

 the time, and we often had to content ourselves with merely a 

 general idea of his whereabouts. When all at once we realized 

 that two birds had come upon the scene, our difficulties were 

 doubled, each of us trying to watch one bird, and often finding 

 that we were watching the other's, particularly after the male had 

 mixed things up by feeding the female, which he did at intervals. 

 However, one of them finally flew to a hard pine stub, some ten 

 feet from where one of us was standing, and disappeared beneath 

 a long strip of bark about six feet above the water. 



One of us climbed on the other's shoulders and, on prying 

 out the bark and peeking in, found that the nest contained six 

 fresh eggs. This nest could never have been discovered had it 

 not been for the bird's kindness in leading us to it, as it was abso- 

 lutely hidden behind a very large strip of bark, while the stub 

 stood in the middle of a very thick tangle, so thick in fact that we 

 were unable to photograph it, as we could not do so without cut- 

 ting away a lot of trees, shrubs, etc., and we had no hatchet. 



In addition to the above records, Dr. Chas. W. Townsend 



