'^ 1914 J Tyler, Brown Creeper in Massachusetts. 57 



close to the trunk in the right angle formed by the limb. In hitch- 

 ing over the bark, they moved almost straight upward and whenever 

 I saw them as a silhouette against the sky, and could thus determine 

 the point, they did not use their tails for support. The shortness 

 of the young Creeper's tails gave to their bodies a rounded, unbird- 

 like outline and, with their short, stubby bills of wide gape and their 

 squatting position on the upright bark they suggested tree-toads in 

 no small degree. Like most young birds after they leave the nest, 

 the fledgling Creepers were more noisy than they had been the day 

 before. They announced their whereabouts to their parents with 

 a note not previously heard, — a high sibilant call, "tssssi," or 

 sometimes clearly divided into two syllables thus: — "ts-tssi." 

 The voice was very slightly tremulous and, although the pitch 

 and delivery of the notes were decidedly Creeper-like, they suggested 

 to Mr. Faxon and me a flock of Cedarbirds. 



The female parent, impelled probably by habit, visited the nest 

 tree three times and looked in the upper entrance hole. Once she 

 entered the nest cavity, but returned without feeding. Finally 

 she came to the two young birds clinging side by side on the pine 

 trunk. She took a position below and behind them and fed one. 

 The young bird extended his neck way back to take the food. 

 The male bird was still associated with the family and I have 

 no doubt that he too was feeding the young birds. He did not 

 sing during an hour or more. We did not visit the Concord Creep- 

 ers again. 



The effect upon the pair of Lexington Creepers whose nest was 

 blown down on May 30 was to excite the nest-building instinct 

 of the female and to stimulate the male to a renewed period of song. 

 In the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Faxon and I found the pair 

 in the clearing closely associated, — the male singing continually, 

 the female busily exploring dead tree trunks and creeping under 

 loose bark, in search of a new nest site. 



"May 31, 7-8 a. m. The male Creeper sings frequently; his 

 voice rings through the wood : he sings louder and more frequently, 

 it seems, than previously. The female carries nesting material 

 behind a piece of bark on a dead white oak tree, 75 yards to the 

 north of the former nest site. The new site is fifteen feet from the 



