178 Mr. Peabody on the 
head downwards. It seems almost indifferent ‘to 
the presence of man, unless he comes near it with 
obviously bad intentions. When it spends the win- 
ter here, it often comes near our dwellings in search 
of food. Its flight, when seen here, seldom extends 
farther than from one tree to another; but it must 
have great power to sustain itself on the wing, since 
on one of his homeward voyages, Audubon saw one 
come on board his vessel at the distance of three 
hundred miles from the shore; it alighted on the 
rigging, and began to search for food, but it had 
fasted too long, and in the course of the might it 
died.. : Ü 
This species is partial to pine forests, where it 
feeds on the seeds of the trees. Its nest is made in 
dead stumps, not high above the ground. We have 
at present no account of its breeding within the 
limits of our State. 
The Brack anp Wuire Creeper, Certhia varia, 
comes from the south in April, and is seen running 
nimbly round the trunks and large branches of trees, 
in search of insects, particularly ants and their larvæ, 
which are its favorite food. It is an unsuspicious 
bird, always too much taken up with its own affairs 
to pay much regard to an observer. It moves by 
short successive hops, with great rapidity, and in all 
directions with equal facility, with the head either 
up or down. © ‘It has but a very short flight, from one 
tree to another. Its notes are a ‘series of tweals; 
rapidly pronounced, the last greatly prolonged. 
Audubon says that at the south they breed in 
