56 IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN 



being perhaps the most universally distri- 

 buted of all small birds. One likes to think 

 that nearly everywhere one went, in Asia, 

 Africa or America, the very same little brown 

 swallows might be seen ceaselessly flitting 

 about, bringing back to mind the green fields 

 and cloudy skies of home in England. 



Only once have I seen that other cosmo- 

 politan, the tree-creeper, in the garden. One 

 morning in May, 1895, I heard a strange, 

 small, rather shrill song and found that it 

 came from a little brown tree-creeper on an 

 oak just opposite my window. I watched it 

 for some time through field glasses as it 

 climbed about, prying into every crack of the 

 bark and singing as it worked. 



