“You may catch sight of a brown object moving as swiftly as a mouse, and before you have made up your mind what it is he will have gone round the other side of the tree.  But the Creeper has one habit that will some day give you a good chance to look at him.  When he wishes to remain still a moment, he spreads his tail with its stiff pointed feathers and props himself by it against the tree.  This is your opportunity.”

“Does the Creeper stay here all summer?” asked Nat.  “And doesn’t he sing a song like the other birds when he makes his nest?”

“He is not a Citizen hereabouts; he likes a cooler climate and makes his home near and across the northern border of the United States.  We shall see him in the autumn, when he has become a wanderer through the country.  If the trees are not coated with ice, a little flock may stay here all winter, while others drift further south.”

“Then we shan’t hear him sing or see his nest—­have you ever seen it, Uncle Roy?”

“Yes, my boy, and it was the beauty of his little song that made me stop one day, in going through an old pine wood, and search for the singer.  The song was very strange and wild, unlike any other I had ever heard.  As my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, I saw that my old friend, the Brown Creeper, was the musician.  At the same time he flew to one of the pine trees and seemed to disappear inside of it.  I watched awhile until the bird flew out, and, climbing to the spot, saw that the nest was squeezed in a sort of pocket between the loose bark and the tree itself.  You see, like the Chickadee and Nuthatch, he loves trees so well that he tries to creep as close to their hearts as he possibly can.”

“Would you call this Creeper mostly a winter bird?” asked Dodo.  “I’m going to remember the winter birds by themselves and write them in my book, because there will be fewer of them.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “at least a winter bird in places where we mostly see him; but you know that every bird must be a summer bird somewhere.”

The Brown Creeper

Length five and a half inches.

Upper parts mixed brown, white, and buff.

A plain brown tail, and a light-buff band on the wings.

Under parts white, without any marks.

Bill very sharp and slender, curved like a surgeon’s needle.

A Summer Citizen of northern North America.

A Tree Trapper.

CHAPTER XI

MOCKERS AND SCOLDERS

THE SAGE THRASHER

“I thought that more tree-trunk birds, such as Woodpeckers, would come next,” said Rap.

“We are still taking the Birds that Sing,” said the Doctor.  “Woodpeckers have no real song; they belong to the Birds that Croak and Call; but the Nuthatch, Chickadee, and Brown Creeper each has a little tune of its own, as you have heard.”