Birds by Land and Sea 



and crevices of the bark of trees and shrubs. As 

 restless and erratic as the long-tailed tit in its topsy- 

 turvy searches among the branches, it has paid the 

 tree-creeper the compliment of imitating his methods 

 also. But the gold-crest, in keeping with its 

 sprightlier character, creeps with a difference. The 

 tree-creeper walks up a tree-trunk with the 

 methodical sobriety of a woodpecker ; the gold-crest 

 is for ever fluttering as it creeps, like some great 

 moth not sure of its footing. Very moth-like, too, is 

 the general scheme of the gold-crest's colouring 

 olive above, with a conspicuous black patch on each 

 wing below white wing bars ; under parts, yellowy 

 white ; the crest, a bright yellow slash along the 

 crown between black bands. 



In the afternoon of the same day a tree-creeper 

 appeared upon some pollard poplars in the same 

 place. The tree-creeper does not often visit us, 

 being even far rarer than the long-tailed tits and 

 gold-crests. He is the silent brother of this loqua- 

 cious fraternity. He seldom speaks ; and when he 

 does, it is with a thin, querulous voice. He is 

 equally unobtrusive in his movements, but it is hard 

 to believe that any one, seeing a tree-creeper, could 

 fail to identify it. The tree-creeper is always creep- 

 ing ; he is always creeping on trees ; he is always 

 creeping the same way upwards. Seen from some 

 distance, he is like a little, drawn-out, ruddy brown 

 mouse, running in jerks, now zig-zag fashion, now 

 spiral-wise, up the bole of a tree, or along one of its 



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