262 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
like human babies for a long time before they ven- 
ture to try their wings. 
“ Beetles and wood-bugs and any insects found on 
trees furnish the brown creeper with food, and in 
spite of its very quiet appearance it is an extremely 
active and restless little bird. In winter it asso- 
ciates with the small spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, 
titmouse, and such-like ; and it very wisely follows 
in their wake, and gleans up such insects as their 
stronger bills expose and frighten from their hiding- 
places, for its own bill will scarcely make an impres- 
sion even on decayed wood, and is only useful for 
holes and among scales of bark. 
“ This little procession is thus described : ‘ Of the 
titmouse there are generally present the individuals 
of a whole family, and seldom more than one or two 
of the others. As the party advances through the 
woods from tree to tree, our little gleaner seems to 
observe a good 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 upward 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 climb- 
ing, running along the lower side of the horizontal 
