52 SITTA EUROP^A. 



vember) it generally keeps toward the middle and topmost 

 branches of the trees it inhabits ; but as the spring advances it 

 not only feeds lower down on the bark, but may then be ob- 

 served occasionally betaking itself to the ground. The note in 

 spring is quite dilFerent, having in the vernal months a soft 

 flute-like sound, which it gets in February, but somewhat 

 earlier or later according to the nature of the season. The flight 

 of the Nuthatch is very short, and in fact is only made from 

 one tree to another, or from branch to branch. When the bird 

 is flying, it moves its wings very rapidly, and, during these 

 short flights, its course is not undulating. In its mode of flying 

 it bears a great resemblance to the Wren. Tlie pair which I 

 have forwarded for your inspection were shot from the bark of 

 an oak. You may fire several times into the same tree, with- 

 out causing the birds, which at this season are in families, to 

 leave it, although one or two should be killed. When these 

 two were obtained, four shots were fired, and yet all this can- 

 nonading did not drive off the other four birds, which remained 

 until we dejoarted." 



In the stomach of these individuals I found fragments of 

 small coleoptera, several small white pujose contained in very 

 hard elliptical shells, some farinaceous-looking matter in small 

 pieces or chips, a few husks of grasses, and several particles of 

 quartz, the largest two-twelfths in their greatest diameter. The 

 figure and description of the alimentary canal is taken from one 

 of these specimens, a male, as are the measurements of the bill, 

 feet, and other parts. 



The Rev. W. T. Bree, in Loudon s IMagazine, Vol. II, p. 243, 

 states that " it fixes the nuts in a chink or crevice of the bark 

 of a tree, or the like, and commences a vigorous attack upon 

 the shell by forcibly and repeatedly striking it with its beak. 

 This knocking may be heard to a considerable distance. Dur- 

 ing the operation, it sometimes happens that the nut swerves 

 from its fixture, and fiills towards the ground ; it has not de- 

 scended, however, for the space of more than a few yards, when 

 the Nuthatch, with admirable adroitness, recovers it in its fall, 

 and replacing it in its former position, commences the attack 

 afresh. The fall of the nut in the air, and its recovery by the 



