COMMON TREE CREEPER. 299 
pointec, and curved, and the tail-feathers are stiff and pointed at their extre- 
mities. The food of the Creeper consists chiefly of insects, although the 
bird will sometimes vary its diet by seeds and other vegetable substances. 
‘the insects on which it feeds live principally under the bark of various 
rough-skinned trees, and when it is engaged in running after its food, it runs 
spirally up the trunk with wonderful ease and celerity, probing every crevice 
with ready adroitness, its whole frame instinct with sparkling eagerness, and 
its little black eyes glancing with the exuberance of its delight. While 
running on the side of the tree which is nearest to the spectator, it presents 
a very curious appearance, as its dark-brown back and quick tripping move- 
ments give it a great resemblance to a mouse, and ever and anon, as it comes 
again into sight from the opposite side of the trunk, its beautifully white 
breast gleams suddenly in contrast with the sombre-coloured bark. Its eyes 
are wonderfully keen, as it 
will discern insects of so mi- 
nute a form that the human 
eye can hardly perceive them, 
and it seems to possess some 
instinctive mode of detect- 
ing the presence of its insect 
prey beneath moss or lichens, 
and will perseveringly bore 
through the substance in 
which they are hidden, never 
failing to secure them at 
last. 
The Creeper is a very timid 
bird, and if it is alarmed at 
the sight of a human being, 
it will either fly off to a dis- 
tant tree, or will quietly slip 
round the trunk of the tree 
on which it is running, and 
keep itself carefully out of 
sight. It soon, however, gains 
confidence, and, provided that 
the spectator remains per- 
fectly quiet, the little head 
and white breast may soon 
be seen peering anxiously 
round the trunk, and ina few 
minutes the bird will resume 
its progress upon the tree, and run cheerily up the bark, accompanying itself 
with its faint trilling song. It seldom attempts a long flight, seeming to con- 
tent itself with flitting froin tree to tree. 
The nest of the Creeper is usually made in the hollow of some decaying 
tree, and is made of grasses, leaves, and vegetable fibres, and lined with 
feathers. The eggs are very small, about seven or eight in number, and of 
an ashen grey colour, sprinkled with little grey-brown spots. Sometimes it 
builds in the hole of an old wall, and has been known to make its nest ina 
disused spout. 
Tue Nuthatches are represented in England by the common NUTHATCH 
of our woods. They are all remarkable for their peculiarly stout and sturdy 
build, their strong, pointed, cylindrical beaks, and their very short tails. 
The Nuthatch, although by no means a rare bird, is seldom seen except by 
COMMON TREE CREEPER.—(Certhia familiaris.) 
