22 
OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 250 
It is of especial economic value to the fruit grower. Its entire food 
is composed of insects, when obtainable, but in times of scarcity of 
such food, seeds and berries are eaten. Tent caterpillars, canker 
worms, codling moths, bark beetles and plant lice, in all their stages, 
are eaten. It is especially noted as a destroyer of the canker worm 
moths, larvae and eggs. 
YOUNG CHICKADEES 
Fig. 5. “They know whence comes their mothers call.” From Bird Lore, 
Vol. II, No. 2. Photo by Mary C. Dickerson. 
BROWN CREEPER, Certhis familtaris americana (Bonap.) 
This unobtrusive, weak-voiced bird is readily overlooked by the 
average person. It most commonly frequents woodlands, more 
rarely park or shade trees, where it gleans a living from the insect 
life that lies hidden in the crevices of the bark. A bird of fixed 
habits and its daily life one of the strictest routine, it pursues its 
task with tireless persistence. Beginning near the base of the tree, 
it winds its spiral way up the trunk and larger branches, scrutinizing 
the crevices for any insect life that may be hidden there. When the 
smaller branches are reached, it drops to the base of a nearby tree 
to repeat, in the same manner, its endless task of insect destruction. 
WRENS 
The Wrens, near relatives of the Catbird and the Thrashers, ar „ 
small birds, modestly dressed in brown tones, and indistinctly 
streaked. Their tails are short and erect, or inclined forward, 
giving them a pert, bantam-like appearance. They are bold, ag¬ 
gressive, and of a prying, inquisitive and nervous disposition. 'I heir 
voices are loud, and their notes varied; songsters, they are, of no 
mean ability. Their food is made up almost wholly of insects, 
