te out of
breath with her haste to tell all she could before the bird flew away.

"Do you think you will remember the Chickadee, while he is in the deep
woods nesting this summer, so that you will know him again in the
autumn?"

Dodo and Nat said they were quite sure they would, but Rap said: "I've
known him ever so long, only the miller called him a 'black-capped
titmouse.' Isn't he a relation of the Nuthatch, Doctor?"

"Yes, a second cousin, and Black-capped Titmouse is one of his right
names. They used to belong to the very same family, but they had a
little falling out, and are not now so intimate as they were before each
went his own way, and acquired some different habits."

"I thought they were alike in a good many things," said Rap, "and their
nests are something alike, too."

The Chickadee

Length about five inches.

Upper parts ashy gray.

Head, back of neck, and throat, shining black.

Cheeks pure white.

Middle of breast white; sides and belly buffy.

A Citizen of the eastern United States.

A Tree Trapper.

THE BROWN CREEPER

"Another bird that, like the Nuthatch, spends his days peeping into the
cracks of tree bark in search of food. He is not a relation of the
Nuthatch, but a lonely bird and the only one of his family in this part
of the world.

[Illustration: Brown Creeper.]

"He does not advertise his whereabouts as freely as do the Woodpeckers
and other tree-trunk birds, so you will have to keep a sharp lookout to
find him. In the first place he is nearly the same color as the brown
and gray bark upon which he creeps, the white under parts being quite
hidden, and his call, which is the only note that is commonly heard, is
only a little sharp squeaky 'screek, screek,' given as he winds his way
up and around a tree-trunk, in the same way as a person would go up a
circular staircase.

"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 cli