NEW GLEANINGS IN OLD FIELDS 



short, straight bill, fails to get. The creeper works 

 the trunk of the tree from the ground up in straight 

 or in spiral lines, disappearing quickly round the 

 trunk if he scents danger. He is more assimilatively 

 colored than any of his winter congeners, being like 

 a bit of animated bark itself in form and color, hence 

 his range and movements are more limited and rigid 

 than those of the woodpeckers and chickadees. The 

 creeper is emphatically a tree-trunk bird. His ene- 

 mies are shrikes and hawks, and the quickness with 

 which he will dart around the trunk or flash away 

 to another trunk shows what the struggle for life 

 has taught his race. 



The range of the nuthatch is greater than that of 

 the creeper, in that he takes in more of the branches of 

 the tree. He is quite conspicuously colored in his suit 

 of black, light gray, blue, and white, and his power 

 of movement is correspondingly varied. His bill is 

 straight and heavier, and has an upward slant with 

 the angle of the face that must serve him some useful 

 purpose. He navigates the tree-trunks up and down 

 and around, always keeping an eye on every source 

 of danger in the air about him. I have never seen 

 a nuthatch molested or threatened by any bird of 

 prey, but his habitual attitude of watchfulness while 

 exploring the tree-trunks, with head bent back and 

 beak pointing out at right angles, shows clearly what 

 the experience of his race has taught him. Danger 

 evidently lurks in that direction, and black and 

 50 



