Peter Discovers Two Old Friends 



in the sauciest way, Seep-Seep's tail is never cocked 

 up at all. In fact, it bends down, for Seep-Seep 

 uses his tail just as the members of the Woodpecker 

 family use theirs. He was dressed in grayish-brown 

 above and grayish-white beneath. Across each 

 wing was a little band of buffy-white, and his bill 

 was curved just a little. 



Seep-Seep didn't stop an instant but started up 

 the trunk of that tree, going round and round it as 

 he climbed, and picking out things to eat from 

 under the bark. His way of climbing that tree was 

 very like creeping, and Peter thought to himself 

 that Seep-Seep was well named the Brown Creeper. 

 He knew it was quite useless to try to get Seep-Seep 

 to talk. He knew that Seep-Seep wouldn't waste 

 any time that way. 



Round and round up the trunk of the tree he 

 went, and when he reached the top at once flew 

 down to the bottom of the next tree and without a 

 pause started up that. He wasted no time ex- 

 ploring the branches, but stuck to the trunk. 

 Once in a while he would cry in a thin little voice, 

 "Seep! Seep!" but never paused to rest or look 

 around. If he had felt that on him alone depended 

 the job of getting all the insect eggs and grubs on 

 those trees he could not have been more industrious. 



"Does he build his nest in a hole in a tree?" 

 asked Peter of Yank-Yank. 

 [297] 



