. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . ets go like a bit of loosened bark, and brings up punctually atthe base of another. With now and then a plaintive chip which is little bet-ter than a sigh, he hitches along the bark, winding spirally up the tree,and pausing at the end of every jerk to inspect the crevices for insects andtheir larvae. Little attention is paid to mans presence and, indeed, thebird seems scarcely to indulge a thought above his task. Work, work, work,—while Titmouse is plotting mischief, and Chickade
. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . ets go like a bit of loosened bark, and brings up punctually atthe base of another. With now and then a plaintive chip which is little bet-ter than a sigh, he hitches along the bark, winding spirally up the tree,and pausing at the end of every jerk to inspect the crevices for insects andtheir larvae. Little attention is paid to mans presence and, indeed, thebird seems scarcely to indulge a thought above his task. Work, work, work,—while Titmouse is plotting mischief, and Chickadee is turning somersalts,this unimaginative clerk is adding up his endless columns and telling off thedigits in a wiry, piping voice. The Creeper knows that he is a near-sighted fellow, but he is sharp enoughto depend on the wits of others. When the winter troop is ranging freelvhe follows close and pipes shrilly, Wait for me, wait for me, if he thinksthe bigger children are trying to give him the slip. I have watched a pairof them tagging a Nuthatch about from tree to tree as faithfully as a braceof BROWN CREEPER Crrllnii /fiiiuliiirix (iiiirr!;ii Life-size THE MOCKINGBIRD. 251 Yet he too has his Httle pleasures. One bug is not quite like another inbugginess, so that any bark rift may render up some entomological curiosityrare of form and gustable of juice. And when the lush days of springtimecome, even this understrapper gets giddy and rushes out into space, jerkinghither and thither in an aerial frenzy and cutting the most absurd figures;after which he comes back to his bark, beaming and panting, and expectingthe plaudits of an admiring world. This spirited performance proves highlysatisfactory to at least one witness, and prepares the way for that domestic joy-in the Northland, which is not denied the humblest, and which Ijfts all mortalsto an equal plane. While with us the Creeper rarely sings, and its ordinary notes, chip andfsccp, tseep, or creep, creep, cree,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1903
