178 USEFUL BIRDS. 



wanderer from the dizzy heights of those towering trunks. 

 In the pine woods of New England or Canada the Creeper 

 ever goes its ceaseless rounds. It is a guardian of the 

 tree trunk. It is not very often seen among the branches, 

 although it sometimes feeds on the seed of the pine. 



The Creeper feeds very largely on insects, which it finds 

 on the bark or extracts from the cracks and crevices with its 

 long, sharp bill. I have often tried to determine by obser- 

 vation the food of this bird, but can only say that it seems 

 to find boring grubs and the pupae and eggs of insects. 

 In this quest it examines a large number of trees daily. Mr. 

 Bailey spent an hour watching one of these birds on March 30, 

 1899. It inspected forty-three trees, beginning about two 

 feet from the ground, or at just about the height to which 

 the ground-frequenting birds would reach. Thirty-six trees 

 were white oak and seven white pine. It went up each tree 

 about twenty feet, going round and round the trunk, then 

 flew to another. It appeared to prefer the white oak to any 

 other tree, probably because the oaks in that locality were 

 infested with numerous insects. It progressed in this man- 

 ner about one hundred yards within the hour. At night a 

 Creeper, probably the same bird, was still in the near-by 

 woods. We have little accurate knowledge of the food of 

 this bird. The only precise determination of its food that 

 has come to my notice is recorded by Dr. Judd in Maryland. 

 The stomach contained such beetles as Helops acreus and 

 Bruchus hibisci; also sawflies, ants, spiders, and seeds of 

 scrub pine. 



THRASHERS AND MOCKINGBIRDS. 



This group is represented here by the Thrasher and Cat- 

 bird. Both are birds of the thicket, and are found habitu- 

 ally in sprout growth or young coppice, and in shrubbery 

 on the borders of woods. They feed largely on or near the 

 ground and in shrubbery, but often make excursions into 

 woods, pastures, fields, or gardens. 



