34 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



if we cautiously approach we shall see the author of 

 the noise, to wit, our grey-coated friend, clinging 

 to the trunk of a tree, and vigorously striking at 

 something wedged in the bark. This something is 

 the purloined nut, which the knowing bird has firmly 

 introduced into a cleft of the bark. Then taking 

 his station head-downward over the nut, he hammers 

 away with his powerful bill (aiding each stroke 

 with a clapping of the wings) till the hard shell 

 gives way, and the dainty kernel is his reward. 

 Just as the Thrush retires to the old stone or stile 

 to break up the homes of garden and belted snails, 

 so does the Nuthatch retire to bis corner to feast on 

 the juicy kernels, and neither of their workshops I 

 may say, is conspicuous for tidiness. 



flew up, and, placing something on a potato mound, 

 gave it several taps with its beak and then flew off. 

 Marking the spot, I searched and found a small but 

 fuU-kernelled nut just beneath the surface. Soon 

 after I found six others nuts buried separately, but 

 not far from the first. I once noticed him as late as 

 the 1st of November burying a nut in a flower-bed- 

 He dropped it on the gravelled path, and then took 

 it up in his beak, placed it on the soft earth, and 

 tapped it several times, afterwards drawing the 

 earth and leaves together as if to conceal the place 

 from other prying eyes. Besides hazel, filbert, and 

 cob-nuts, he likewise stores away acorns and beech- 

 masts. In December and January our nut-cracking 

 friend remembers his autumn labours, and turns 



s-'~*=r --^ 



Fig. 27. Nuthatch (Sitta Europcsoj. 



At the time of writing this my little friend is in 

 the midst of his nut-collecting and nut- breaking 

 operations, and judging from what I have seen of 

 his movements, he will be little troubled by the 

 scarcity of nuts. Notwithstanding his liking for 

 the dainty kernel, he has an eye for the future, and 

 sacrifices part of his present enjoyments for future 

 "rainy days," when insect life is asleep and hidden 

 away even from his inquisitive eyes. Accordingly our 

 provident little friend, squirrel-like, stores away 

 the superfluous nuts, and dozens of times have I 

 noticed with pleasure his dexterity in so doing. 

 His hiding-places for his nuts are everywhere— in 

 the earth, in flower-plots, under bushes, in chinks of 

 walls and spoutings, under moss, tufts of flowers, 

 and at the roots of box edging. On September 

 23rd last, while employed in the garden, a nuthatch 



them to good account. He may then be seen 

 searching among the flower-plots, and having 

 disinterred a nut bear^ it off triumphantly in his 

 bill to be dexterously cracked and daintily eaten. 



This unique habit of storing away food is, we 

 believe, peculiar to the Nuthatch, if we except the 

 acquisitive disposition of the tame Corvidce. 



Kingston, Abingdoti. W. H. Wahner. 



A GOSSIP ABOUT EARE PLANTS. 



YOUR correspondent ^F. Arnold Lees, in his 

 article entitled " Recent Records of Rare 

 Plants" (January No., pp. 1 — 3), meutioHS Helia7i- 

 tliemum Brewerl as "rendered almost if not quite 

 extinct" at Holyhead through the operations which 

 have effected such notable changes in commercial 



