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.