2 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Breeding habits : Little more than thirty years ago 

 the habits of the Nutcracker during the breeding 

 season, together with the bird's nest and eggs, were 

 utterly unknown to British oologists. Consequently 

 the most absurd ideas prevailed, and were perpetuated 

 even so recently as the second edition of Morris's 

 History of BritisJi Birds, published in 1870, wherein 

 the Nutcracker is actually stated to nest in holes of 

 trees ! Professor Newton had the honour of introduc- 

 ing the nest and eggs of the Nutcracker to British 

 naturalists from specimens collected by Pastor Theobald 

 on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea ; and an 

 account of the interesting discovery was published in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1862, p. 207 ; 1867, 

 p. 162, pi. 15, fig. 2). In the former year, however, 

 another account of the nest and eggs of the Nutcracker 

 was published in the Ibis (1862, p. 365), being a transla- 

 tion of Herr Schlitt's communication to \.h.Q Journal fur 

 Ornithologie. In Europe the Nutcracker appears every- 

 where to be a very early breeder, commencing to nest 

 long before the snow is off the ground. Its favourite 

 breeding haunts are pine and fir forests, and owing to 

 the density of the trees, and the difficulty of gettijig 

 about in the deep snow, or half-frozen slush, the nest is 

 by no means an easy one to find. Not only so, the 

 birds do not appear to be in any way gregarious during 

 the breeding season, nesting in isolated pairs, and 

 are remarkably shy and retiring throughout the entire 

 period. It is probable that the Nutcracker pairs for 

 life, although a new nest is made each season. During 

 the days of nest-building and courtship the bird is 

 described as very noisy, but as soon as the eggs are laid 

 it becomes silent and wary in the extreme, flitting about 

 the forests in a most stealthy manner. The site for the 

 nest is generally in a moderate-sized spruce, fir, or pine 



