60 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



pauses, this way and that, as he works up the trunk 

 to the first thick branch which starts horizontally 

 from the parent stem. Like a fly upon a ceiling, 

 he runs out beneath it, and in corkscrew fashion 

 examines it above and below ; then flits back to the 

 trunk, to which he seems to be drawn like a needle 

 to a magnet ; then on again to a neighbouring tree 

 with a feeble chirp, where the same movements 

 are gone through once more. No one can watch 

 the Creeper long without being impressed with the 

 resemblance of its plumage to the trunks and 

 branches from which its food is drawn. This 

 harmony of colour suggests a train of thought 

 upon the philosophy of protective colouration ; 

 but this the reader may well be spared, a Devon- 

 shire orchard on a sweltering day in May not 

 being at all conducive to such a discussion. 

 Rather may we visit the nest of a Nuthatch, 

 hidden away in the hollow trunk of an old apple- 

 tree. As most observers may know, this engaging 

 little bird possesses the curious habit of plastering 

 up the entrance to its nest should the selected hole 

 be too large for its requirements. The amount of 

 plastering varies considerably. In the nest before 

 us it has been carried on to an extent beyond all 



