A Tree-creeper's Choice The trunk of a sequoia would not
unnaturally be saved by the protective boughs and perhaps by the bark, which is like the bark of no other familiar tree. It is very thick and very soft. You may hit it as hard as you will with your fist and not risk barking your knuckles ; and this quality endears it to one c.f our native birds. The tree-creepers delight to
roost in the warm crevices. These neat, comfortable roosting hollows are on occasion rubbed as smooth as the hole where a bumble bee has wintered, and the same bird is fond of another alien tree, Cobbett's friend, the acacia, but he likes that for nesting purposes. The buckling of the thick bark provides just the hiding and shelter that the species seek. They do not enjoy holes as the tit or nuthatch, but something in the way of a crevice ; and if that is made by a lifting of the bark so much the better.