BROWN TREECREEPER. 
runs. Unlike our Nuthatch they do not climb down the tree, at any rate I 
have never seen them do so. They are not at all shy, and soon frequent a 
bush hut for scraps. One afternoon as I was sitting in a hut, near a large 
tree, three Creepers, one a young bird not quite fully feathered, came round 
the door. They gathered up all the scraps, and as I stayed perfectly still, 
they finished by hopping in at the open door, Avithin a yard of my feet. They 
are very busy birds, especially in the spring-time, when they are on the move 
all day. Only rarely do they make long flights and I have never seen them 
far up the trees. One big and very tall tree near my camp had a family of 
Honey-eaters in its topmost branches and one hundred feet beloAV, at its base, 
a pair of Treecreepers ; and I am certain that neither kneAV of the others’ 
existence. The birds are very common. No one molests them and they 
may be found in any Victorian forest. They have no song, just a feeble twitter.” 
Mr. L. G. Chandler also writes : “In a certain clump of open timber at 
Bayswater a few of these birds are always to be found. At Melton and Parwan 
they are numerous. They differ from our other Treecreepers by spending 
a good deal of their time on the ground. I have repeatedly seen them hopping 
about on ants’ nests. The birds seem to prefer low stunted timber, and are 
generally found in open forest.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has sent me the following account: “ The Brown 
Treecreeper is very numerous in the open forests and ring-barked country 
in the Cobbora district, New South Wales, but I have never met Avith it in the 
thick scrubs. Usually met Avith feeding upon the ground, or hopping up the 
trunks of trees or stumps; in the former case they often assemble in small 
flocks, but when disturbed they fly off in different directions to the nearest 
trees, generally settling near the base, sloAvly working their way higher and 
higher, round and round the trunk or in a zig-zag maimer, searching in crevices 
for insects; when one tree has been partly searched it Avill fly off to another 
to repeat the operation. The flight is direct but undulating, just a few very 
rapid Aving beats, then a float through the air with almost closed Avings and 
so on. If they are being closely Avatched they keep on the opposite side of the 
trunk. For a nesting situation they prefer a perpendicular branch, about 
six inches in thickness, which has decayed aAvay to a mere hofloAv shell, doAvn 
Avliich they firstly drop pieces of horse or coav dung, also small tufts of grass 
pulled up by the roots by stock; this forms a thick foundation about six 
inches in depth, on top of which the nest proper is built, cup-shaped, composed 
of dry gras3, hair, fur and avooI, all matted together in such a manner as to 
form a very cosy nest, and I have knoAvn them to build from five to sixty 
feet from the ground, hollow stock-yard posts often being a favoured nesting 
site, and often building a new nest on top of an old one. Three eggs usually 
VOL. XI. 
89 
