186 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



Woodpecker and the Chickadee. It is easy to identify 

 from its habit of running up and down the trunks 

 of trees, usually in a spiral course, searching for grubs 

 concealed in the bark. 



The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a more northern spe- 

 cies than the preceding, but is similar in appearance, 

 except for a black stripe which runs through the eye 

 to the back of the head, and for the reddish instead of 

 white breast. Its notes, too, are quite different in 

 tone, and neither species is remarkable for its melodi- 

 ous voice. 



Tree-cbeepers 



Like the foregoing family, these birds are tree- 

 dwellers. Like the Nuthatch, the Tree-creeper climbs 

 about the trunks of large trees; but in one point it 

 differs conspicuously — in the form of its tail. In the 

 Nuthatch the tail is short and soft; in the Tree- 

 creeper, on the other hand, it is long and composed of 

 stiff and pointed feathers, as in the Woodpecker. 

 Since the Nuthatch uses its beak as a hammer, after 

 the manner of the Woodpecker, and the Tree-creeper 

 does not, this curious difference is not easy to under- 

 stand, for the Woodpecker's tail is supposed to have 

 developed as a support for the body and to give force 

 to the hammering of the beak. This prop seems to be 

 unnecessary in the Nuthatch. The Tree-creeper's 

 beak, indeed, could never be used hammer-fashion, 

 for it is slender and curved and is used for the capture 

 of insects. See Plate 21, Fig. 127. 



The American Brown Creeper is the only one of the 

 twelve recognised species foimd in America. It cor- 



