TREE-CREEPER 125 



elongated body. It is more of a parasite on the trees that furnish 

 it with food than any other bird of similar habits. Nuthatches and 

 woodpeckers are not so dependent on their trade ; their habits and 

 diet vary to some extent with the seasons and the conditions they 

 exist in. The creeper is a creeper, on trees all the year round, and 

 extracts all his sustenance from the bark. His procedure is always 

 the same : no sooner has he got to the higher and smoother part of 

 the bole up which he has travelled than he detaches himself from 

 it, and drops slantingly through the air to the roots of another tree, 

 to begin as before. The action is always accompanied with a little 

 querulous note, which falls like an exclamation, and seems to 

 express disgust at the miserable harvest he has gathered, or else 

 satisfaction that yet another tree in the long weary tale of trees has 

 been examined and left behind. The fanciful idea is formed that 

 the creeper has not found happiness in his way of life : it is so 

 laborious a way ; he must live so close to the dull-hued and always 

 shaded bark, and examine it so narrowly ! The contrast of such a 

 method with that of other small birds warblers and wagtails, and 

 swallows and finches is very great. Feeding-time with them is 

 song-time and play-time ; their blithe voices and lively antics and 

 motions show how happy they are in their lives. The creeper is a 

 rather silent bird, but he utters in the pairing season a shrill, 

 high-pitched call-note, and the same sound is emitted when the nest 

 is in danger. The song, which is occasionally heard in spring, is 

 composed of three or four shrill notes resembling the call-notes in 

 sound. 



The nest is a neat and pretty structure, and is often placed 

 against the trunk of a tree, behind a piece of bark that has become 

 partly detached. A hole in the trunk, or in a large branch, or in a 

 cavity where a portion of the w r ood has rotted away, is often selected 

 as a site. When the nest is made behind a piece of loose bark, the 

 cavity is filled up with a quantity of fine twigs. Inside, the nest is 

 formed of roots, moss, and sometimes feathers, and lined with fine 

 strips of inside bark. Six to nine eggs are laid, pure white, with red 

 spots. Two broods are reared in a season. 



