Evening star., 1944-12-16
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUeH.
WESLEY HEIGHTS
By Charles E.

Dear sir:
Il saw a small bird on a. tree, and
would like to know what it was 1t was
mostly brown, with a long bill. very
pointed. 1t was going up the tree, and
I watched it long time. 1t seemed to
be getting food, but I could not see
what. Could this be wren of some
sort? Faithfully. M. A. S"
No, 1t was not wren, but the brown
creeper. This little bird is like many
persons; 1t is plain, honest, and never
does anything especially to attract the
attention of others.
1t Is fairly common winter visitant,
usually arriving the last Of September
and remaining until May.
1t is a cousin of the white-breasted
nuthatch, which also is great tree
bird.
The brown creeper is usually called
insignificant in the books, but the work
it does for tree sanitation Is ANYTHING
but insignificant.
The food it gets is the small life of
bark and crevices in the bark. With that
long bill, slightly curved downward, it
probes into the interstices, and brings
out many an invisible egg or minute
insect.
The nuthatch also does this work but
Is not as persistent at 1t as the brown
creeper. Any one who sees one of these
small birds at work may feel that his
trees are in safe-we are going to say
hands, but probably bills would be bet
ter. **
This is splendid creature, one which
almost invariably impresses the be-
holder as smaller than 1t actually is
1t is 5% inches long, almost as large
as a sparrow, but certainly it does not
look it, as it creeps around the tree,
with none of the habit of coming head
down which distinguishes the nuthatch.
This creeping habit gives 1t an al
most mouselike appearance. Perhaps
the bird attracts so little attention be-
cause it is the color, more or less, of
many tree trunks, but one thing which
makes 1t inconspicuous Is its lack of
voice while here. In this world, anything
which makes no outcry is very likely to
be overlooked. The brown creeper con-
fines itself mostly to creeping, hitch
ing up and around after food.
Its upper parts are brown with small
streaks of gray; the underparts are dull
white, but are mostly concealed as it
hunts for food.
The bill is rather weak, so the bird
does not dig in much, but looks for in
sects under loose pieces of bark and in
cracks.
Once we had good view of its method
as contrasted with dcwny woodpecker,
the smallest of the family.
The two were at work on a large
locust not 4 feet away from the win
dow, and neither bird minded inspec-
tion in the least.
They made team, and a picture,
too, as they worked away, the downy
balancing itself on it's tail, and ram
ming that strong bill into the tree,
while the creeper contented itself with
its usualsroutine.
Brown creepers search for small in
sects and their eggs, scales and plant
lice, and the smaller caterpillars They
also take toll of spiders and spider
eggs.
1t is said that no useful insects are
destroyed. This makes 1t one of our
best birds.
At breeding time, in Canada, it has
fine short song OF four notes, the last
one seeming to be swallowed.
Balsam fir trees are chosen as the
nesting site. The nest, made of bits of
bark, lined with feathers, is usually
placed behind loosened section of
bark.
The eggs number from 5 to 8, and are
white spotted with cinnamon and Law
ender dots.
Every one with trees should be on the
watch for this interesting bird. No win
ter Is really complete without it.