488 
ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
18. Certhia pamiliaris, Linn. BROWN CREEPER. Group I. Class b. 
The Brown Creeper is another of those birds, which, like the Nuthatches, 
scrambles about the trunks and larger branches of trees in quest of food, 
using its long, slender, decurved bill to remove those small insects that 
hide in the crevices of the bark and under it. In the northern portions of the 
state it is resident throughout the year. In the fall it spreads southward, to re¬ 
turn again in the spring. Its favorite haunts are the deep, heavy woods, but 
during its migrations it ventures near the abodes of man and is often seen in 
cities. Mr. Nelson states that he has seen as many as a dozen of these birds 
upon the sides of a house at once, in Chicago, searching after small spiders. 
Enough has been said, in the introduction, to indicate the value of the kind 
of work which this bird does, and that it should be more abundant. It is 
difficult to explain why birds which lay as many eggs as this and the Black- 
capped Titmouse do, and in places apparently so secure from the plunderers of 
birds’ nests, as we know them, do not become more numerous. The subject is 
one which needs careful investigation. It may be added, in connection with 
what has already been said of squirrels robbing birds’ nests, that the chipmunk 
has been known to capture and carry away young chickens, and that this fact 
suggests that it may also be a dangerous enemy to small birds. If so, its small 
size enables it to enter almost any nest which is built in hollow trees, and, hence, 
only the ability of the bird to ward off its attacks remains as a safeguard 
against it. I make these statements not as an accusation against the little 
striped squirrel, but as indicating a field in which careful observation is needed. 
The fiying squirrel, too, as I have shown in another place, is fond of birds’ eggs, 
and might rob the nests of these and other birds in their absence. The little 
red squirrel, in many cases, might also enter the nests of this species. 
Food: Only three stomachs of this species have been examined; one was 
empty, one contained three small beetles, and one three small insects. 
Bugs, pine seeds and fungi (Wils.). Insects and the seeds of pines (De Kay). 
Spiders (E. W. Nelson). 
Family TROGLODYTID JE : Wrens. 
Fig. 112. 
HOCBS Wren {Troglodytes domesticus ). After Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 
