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BROWN CREEPER. 



deal of regularity in his proceedings; for I have almost always 

 observed that he alights on the body near the root of the tree, 

 and directs his course, with great nimbleness, upwards, to the 

 higher branches, sometimes spirally, often in a direct line, 

 moving rapidly and uniformly along, with his tail bent to the 

 tree, and not in the hopping manner of the woodpecker, whom 

 he far surpasses in dexterity of climbing, running along the 

 lower side of the horizontal branches with surprising ease. 

 If any person be near when he alights, he is sure to keep the 

 opposite side of the tree, moving round as he moves, so as to 

 prevent him from getting more than a transient glimpse of 

 him. The best method of outwitting him, if you are alone, is, 

 as soon as he alights, and disappears behind the trunk, take 

 your stand behind an adjoining one, and keep a sharp look 

 out twenty or thirty feet up the body of the tree he is upon, — 

 for he generally mounts very regularly to a considerable 

 height, examining the whole way as he advances. In a 

 minute or two, hearing all still, he will make his appearance 

 on one side or other of the tree, and give you an opportunity 

 of observing him. 



These birds are distributed over the whole United States ; 

 but are most numerous in the western and northern States, 

 and particularly so in the depth of the forests, and in tracts 

 of large-timbered woods, where they usually breed, visiting 

 the thicker settled parts of the country in fall and winter. 

 They are more abundant in the fiat woods of the lower dis- 

 trict of New Jersey than in Pennsylvania, and are frequently 

 found among the pines. Though their customary food appears 

 to consist of those insects of the coleopterous class, yet I have 

 frequently found in their stomachs the seeds of the pine tree, 

 and fragments of a species of fungus that vegetates in old wood, 

 with generally a large proportion of gravel. There seems to 

 be scarcely any difference between the colours and markings 

 of the male and female. In the month of March, I opened 

 eleven of these birds, among whom were several females, as 

 appeared by the clusters of minute eggs with which their 



