Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



tuous diligence, is never found far from the nuthatches, titmice, 

 and kinglets, though not strictly in their company, for he is a 

 rather solitary bird. Possibly he repels them by being too ex- 

 asperatingly conscientious. 



Beginning at the bottom of a rough-barked tree (for a smooth 

 bark conceals no larvae), the creeper silently climbs upward in a 

 sort of spiral, now lost to sight on the opposite side of the tree, 

 then reappearing just where he is expected to, flitting back a foot 

 or two, perhaps, lest he overlooked a single spider egg, but never 

 by any chance leaving a tree until conscience approves of his 

 thoroughness. And yet with all this painstaking workman's care, 

 it takes him just about fifty seconds to finish a tree. Then off 

 he flits to the base of another, to repeat the spiral process. Only 

 rarely does he adopt the woodpecker process of partly flitting, 

 partly rocking his way with the help of his tail straight up one 

 side of the tree. 



Yet this little bird is not altogether the soulless drudge he 

 appears. In the midst of his work, uncheered by summer sun- 

 shine, and clinging with numb toes to the tree-trunk some bitter 

 cold day, he still finds some tender emotion within him to voice 

 in a "wild, sweet song" that is positively enchanting at such a 

 time. But it is not often this song is heard south of his nesting 

 grounds. 



The brown creeper's plumage is one of Nature's most success- 

 ful feats of mimicry — an exact counterfeit in feathers of the brown- 

 gray bark on which the bird lives. And the protective coloring 

 is carried out in the nest carefully tucked under a piece of loosened 

 bark in the very heart of the tree. 



Pine Siskin 



(Spinus pinusj Finch family 



Ca//ed also .- PINE FINCH ; PINE LINNET 



Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. Over an inch smaller than the Eng- 

 lish sparrow. 



Male and Female — Olive-brown and gray above, much streaked 

 and striped with very dark brown everywhere. Darkest on 

 head and back. Lower back, base of tail, and wing feathers 

 pale sulphur-yellow. Under parts very light buff brown, 

 heavily streaked. 



146 



