WOOD NOTES AND NEST HUNTING. 1 33 



and are eagerly sought after by tlie birds, they 

 seem to be as abundant as the hairy crawlers, 

 which, I believe, are generally avoided at this sea- 

 son. So Nature in her harmony and completeness 

 has ordered that these geometrids and other tasteful 

 kinds should be over-prolific, that her stores may 

 be well supplied with this prepared bird-infant 

 food. 



At this time, when they have the care of a 

 houseful of hungry nestlings, I frequently in my 

 walks start from the ground, at unexpected mo- 

 ments, pairs of those curiously striped birds called 

 the black-and-white creepers. Although they are 

 not shy, they have so many little artifices and 

 stratagems by which to deceive whenever you hap- 

 pen within the neighborhood of their nests, that 

 the needle in the stack is almost as easy to find. 

 The female, which is the bravest and most ready 

 to face danger, as is the case with other species, I 

 believe, showing the more ardent and devoted love, 

 immediately begins her maneuvering by flying 

 straight at my face, as if she would lance my eyes 

 with her sharp beak and at once end the whole 

 matter. But this practice is soon discontinued, 

 and she lights on the ground not three feet away, 

 chipping sharply and quivering her wings, or flies 



