244? THE TREE CREEPER. 



a great moth from tree to tree, uttering a faint 

 trilling sound as it fixes on their boles, running 

 round them in a spiral direction, when with re- 

 peated wriggles having gained the summit, it darts 

 to another, and commences again ; and so intent is 

 it on the object of pursuit, and unsuspicious of 

 harm, that I have seen it swept from the tree with 

 a stick. Mr. Pennant thinks that it retires into 

 milder regions upon the advance of winter ; but 

 many certainly remain with us. In the early part 

 of the spring, when food is comparatively scarce in 

 the woods, it will frequent the mossy trees in our 

 orchards and gardens ; but after a very short exa- 

 mination of them, is away to its usual retirements, 

 seeking no familiarity with us, notwithstanding the 

 social epithet it has obtained. This little creature 

 is observed in no great numbers ; yet its actions 

 and manners seem to be such as would tend to its 

 increase. The female lays eight or nine eggs ; it 

 roosts securely in the holes of large trees ; and 

 from its manner of feeding, and the places it inha- 

 bits, it can scarcely be destroyed by birds of prey ; 

 yet, from some counteracting cause, our little cer- 

 thia, instead of increasing, apparently becomes a 

 scarcer bird. The limits that are appointed to the 

 increase of all the inferior orders of creation are 

 very worthy of remark. There may be periods 

 when a great augmentation of individual species 

 takes place ; but this circumstance is local, or tern- 



