. Our winter birds, how to know and how to attract them . ree-trunks, winding hisway around, and pausing only long enough to pickout an insects egg here and there. When he reachesthe lower limbs he is apt to drop lightly down tothe base of a neighboring tree and the moment histoes grasp the bark he begins his upward a preoccupied, near-sighted manner he has!How intent he seems upon his search! One neversees him resting. He reminds me of a characterin mythology named Sisyphus. This poor man wascondemned to push a great stone up a hill; he toiledfaithfully, but always, just before h
. Our winter birds, how to know and how to attract them . ree-trunks, winding hisway around, and pausing only long enough to pickout an insects egg here and there. When he reachesthe lower limbs he is apt to drop lightly down tothe base of a neighboring tree and the moment histoes grasp the bark he begins his upward a preoccupied, near-sighted manner he has!How intent he seems upon his search! One neversees him resting. He reminds me of a characterin mythology named Sisyphus. This poor man wascondemned to push a great stone up a hill; he toiledfaithfully, but always, just before he reached thetop, the stone slipped from his grasp and rolled 73 74 OUR WINTER BIRDS back to the bottom. Then he had to begin again. So the Creeper appears constantly to be workingat some task he never can finish. He is persistentand faithful, but fate seems against him. He spendshis life trying to climb trees, but when he reaches thefirst branches he slips and falls and has to start fromthe bottom again. This view of his place in nature would doubtless. The Brown Creepers Probe-like Bill and Pointed Stiffenh)Tail-feathers surprise the Creeper. His measure of successwould probably be found in the numbers of insects,eggs and larvae his patient gleaning discovers; andwhen we see how well his stiff tail and curved bill fithim to pursue his special calling, we cannot doubtthat he is one of the most valuable guardians of thebark. The Creeper is as uncommunicative as he is dili-gent. A faint, thin, high screeping is the only notewe shall hear from him in winter, but in latespring he has a short song of four notes which HOME BIRDS 75 has been described as exquisitely pure and northern New England northward is theCreepers summer home. He leaves it late in Sep-tember to start south with Junco, Red-breasted Nut-hatch, and others to winter from New England tothe Gulf. WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
Size: 1814px × 1378px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishern, booksubjectbirds
