THE BROWN CREEPER 



( Certhia familiaris a??iericana. ) 



The springtime is truly the paradise of 

 the bird lover ; at this period the feath- 

 ered hosts which have been spending 

 the winter in the far south begin their 

 northward journey to fill the woods and 

 fields with beauty and song. Among the 

 thousands of migrating birds which pass 

 northward to rear their young, the 

 Brown Creeper generally passes unno- 

 ticed, owing to its small size and the al- 

 most perfect manner in which it is con- 

 cealed by its sombre coloration. Notice 

 him as he creeps up yonder tree! Now 

 he creeps up perpendicular like a wood- 

 pecker, proping himself with his long, 

 stifif tail, and again he creeps around the 

 tree several times in his ascent. Unlike 

 the nuthatches, which delight to descend 

 the tree trunk head downward, the 

 Brown Creeper always crawls upward. 



The manner in which this bird is con- 

 cealed when on a tree trunk is truly won- 

 derful. Its back is dark brown marked 

 by several longitudinal stripes of gray- 

 ish, the space between these two colors 

 being marked like the striations on the 

 bark of a tree. When this Creeper re- 

 mains perfectly quiet on the bark of an 

 oak or of an elm tree, it is well nigh im- 

 possible to see it. This is a good case of 

 protective coloration and it is a notable 

 example of one of the many ways in 

 which nature takes care of her children. 

 The structure of the Brown Creeper is 

 peculiar and well adapted to its habits. 

 The tail is rather stifif and is used as a 

 brace in much the same manner as the 

 tail of the woodpecker. The claws of the 

 feet are long and sharp, and curved in 

 such a way as to allow of a strong pur- 

 chase on the bark of the tree. The bill 

 is rather long and slender, and is not 

 used for digging into trees, but for pick- 

 ing up those insects which live on the 

 bark of trees, such as bark-lice, those 

 beetles which live on the outside of trees, 

 and other insects which infest such lo- 



calities. Spiders who make up a portion 

 of its food, as well as pine seeds and 

 fungi. 



The flight of the Brown Creeper is 

 very quick and it seems always in a ner- 

 vous hurry. Though generally rather 

 shy, it is at times quite tame, as I exper- 

 ienced a few days ago while walking 

 through the woods, engaged in bird 

 study. This patch of woods was rather 

 open and the trees were mostly large 

 elms with high branches and almost 

 smooth trunks. A Brown Creeper was 

 busily engaged in securing his morning 

 meal and he allowed me to approach 

 within several feet of him before taking 

 flight. Its peculiar habit of creeping up 

 one trunk and then flying to the base of 

 another, to repeat the operation, was 

 noted. On this occasion the golden 

 crowned kinglets were observed feeding 

 upon the ground and were so tame that 

 one could almost touch them. 



The note of the Brown Creeper is very 

 characteristic and one may often hear 

 the call without being able to see the 

 bird. Mr. Wilson Brewster thus speaks 

 of their notes during the breeding sea- 

 son : "Their notes are varied and warb- 

 ling, and somewhat confused; some of 

 them are loud, powerful and unsurpass- 

 ingly sweet, others are more feeble and 

 plaintive. Their song usually ends with 

 their accustomed cry, which may be rep- 

 resented by cree-cree-cre-ep." 



The nest of this bird is built in a pe- 

 culiar location, and is diflicult to locate 

 so securely is it hidden. A tree trunk 

 is selected in which the bark is loose, or 

 has sprung enough to leave a cavity of 

 sufficient size. In this a nest is built, 

 consisting of dried twigs arranged some- 

 what in the form of a crescent, and lined 

 with lichens, spiders' webs, shreds of 

 bark, feathers and fine rootlets. The nest 

 is built from five to fifteen feet from the 

 ground ; five to six brown spotted eggs 



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