Cambridge, Mass.
1899.
January.
(No. 9).
ground under the elm and ramble over a large area of bare and 
frozen turf, moving rather gracefully and easily by a succes-
sion of elastic Sparrow-like hops. His head was carried high, 
his neck, which was held at nearly right angles with the body,
appeared unusually slender and elongated. He frequently
stopped to pick up something from the surface of the ground,
possibly small particles of suet which had fallen from above.
Once the bird was joined by a large flock of English Sparrows
whose presence, strange to say, did not appear to disconcert
him in the least.
  The Brown Creeper while ascending the trunk of a tree
ordinarily carried his tail nearly in line with his body but with the spiny tips
of the rectrices pressed lightly against the bark. Occasion-
ally, however, the tail is jerked sharply outward and upward
at each upward hop. This motion always accompanies the act
of voiding the excrement.
  At about 9 A.M. on the morning of the 9th a Creeper in
one of our apple trees gave the full spring song twice in
quick succession but in rather subdued tones. The weather,
at the time, was mild with a fine rain falling.
  Scarce a day passed when the garden or the large trees
about the house were not enlivened by the presence of a Downy
Woodpecker and frequently, especially towards the close of
9