20 ON BOSTON COMMON. 



less he had special reasons of his own for dread- 

 ing the presence of this cowardly foe. 



One of our regular visitors twice a year is the 

 brown creeper. He is so small and silent, and 

 withal his color is so like that of the bark to 

 which he clings, that I suspect he is seldom no- 

 ticed even by persons who pass within a few 

 feet of him. But he is not too small to be hec- 

 tored by the sparrows, and I have before now 

 been amused at the encounter. The sparrow 

 catches sight of the creeper, and at once bears 

 down upon him, when the creeper darts to the 

 other side of the tree, and alights again a little 

 further up. The sparrow is after him ; but, as 

 he comes dashing round the trunk, he always 

 seems to expect to find the creeper perched upon 

 some twig, as any other bird would be, and it 

 is only after a little reconnoitring that he again 

 discovers him clinging to the vertical bole. 

 Then he makes another onset with a similar re- 

 sult ; and these manoeuvres are repeated, till the 

 creeper becomes disgusted, and takes to another 

 tree. 



The olive-backed thrushes and the hermits 

 may be looked for every spring and autumn, 

 and I have known forty or fifty of the fo'rmer to 

 be present at once. The hermits most often 

 travel singly or in pairs, though a small flock is 

 not so very uncommon. Both species preserve 



