January 



He starts near the bottom of a tree, crawls 

 up just about so fast and so far, and then flies 

 to the bottom of another, only to repeat the 

 programme. By close application to business 

 (and nothing but sickness can stop him) I find 

 he can do a tree in just about fifty seconds, or 

 seventy-two trees in an hour, and in the twenty- 

 four hours (as far as I know he works nights 

 and Sundays) seventeen hundred and twenty- 

 eight trees. If he would only sing or chirp at 

 his work, or flutter his wings, or turn his head 

 occasionally, it would change the impression 

 marvellously. Only now and then you hear a 

 faint sip, that cheers neither himself nor the 

 spectator, and has a drearily mechanical and 

 conscientious sound. Every other bird I have 

 seen will at times show joy or sorrow or fear by 

 its manner or song, but the creeper has only 

 one aim and ambition, and no time for senti- 

 ment. If in the transmigration of souls Sisy- 

 phus was ever incarnated in bird-form, we cer- 

 tainly have him here, neatly encased in feathers, 

 for it is nothing but climb, climb, climb, and 

 never getting there. 



One of the thousand evidences of nature's 

 grand consistency is shown by the conformity 

 of color in the plumage of birds with the pre- 

 29 



