■2 CO WiDMAXX, Brorvn Creeper Nest hi i^- in Missouri. \_{.yix 



THE BROWN CREEPER NESTING IN THE CYPRESS 

 SWAMP OF SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI. 



BY O. WIDMANN. 



It was a few minutes after five in the morning of June 2, 

 1894, when I heard a shrill whistle of four distinct notes, tsee, 

 fsee, dill did, something entirely new and not attributable to any 

 bird of my knowledge. The whistle was repeated about a dozen 

 times, at intervals of a few seconds, and it came from a distance 

 of less than twenty yards, but the light of the young day had not 

 yet mastered the gloom of the forest, and when the song ceased 

 I had no idea to what family the songster might belong. 



Of one thing I was positive : the notes did not belong to any 

 of our regular breeders. This was enough to arouse my curiosity 

 to the utmost, since I knew that spring migration was over in 

 that region. The very latest of migrants had left it, and only 

 summer sojourners were met with the last few days. A roving 

 flock of Cedarbirds was the only species that had not yet settled 

 down to domestic life. Indeed, fall migration had already 

 begun, if it is allowed to regard the flocking of young Bronzed 

 Crackles into a common roost as the first stage of it. The only 

 hope to identify my bird was by waiting patiently until it would 

 sins a2:ain. So I waited near the trees where I had heard the 

 song. 



The forest was full of bird song at this early hour and it 

 resembled with its arched tupelos and pillar-like cypresses a 

 huge cathedral ; the floor a blinking sheet of water without any 

 underbrush ; the aisles resonant with the monotonies of Proto- 

 notaria ; the cornices tenanted by a choir of noisy Redeyes, 

 Redstarts and Cerulean Warblers, with frequent veerees of the 

 Yellow-throated Vireo, and occasional outbursts by an exalted 

 Baltimore or Orchard Oriole. 



As time wore on, all birds of the forest had their turn in sing- 

 ing. Now and then the Parula and Sycamore Warblers laid in 

 a few repetitions of their lofty cheerings and the Wood Thrush 

 became loud in the praise of the pleasant coolness of the morning- 

 hours. 



