EUROPEAN NUTHATCH. 53 



bird on the wing, I have seen repeated several times in the 

 space of a few minutes." 



A correspondent, J. D., in the same very useful work, Vol. 

 V, p. 489, has the following notice. " In observing the Nut- 

 hatch climbing tall trees, as the lime and the elm, when, of 

 course, insects, not nuts, were the objects sought, I noticed that 

 the bird ascended in a very zigzag manner, as, at the end of 

 every few inches of its progress upwards, it diverged either to 

 the right hand or to the left ; this, it may be presumed, was 

 less for the purpose of rendering ascent easy, than for that of 

 enlarging its field of search, and so increasing the chances of 

 amplifying its meal. During the winter the Nuthatch was 

 very shy, and as far as my observation went, quite silent. By 

 the 10th of April and before, it had become, I think, less shy, 

 and rather frequently uttered one or the other of its two notes : 

 these are a short broken twitting, and a short, unmodulated, 

 yet mellow -toned whistle." Another correspondent states that 

 it " has only a few short notes, one of them peculiar, and so loud 

 that it may be heard to a considerable distance. It is at all 

 times a busy and cheerful bird, and particularly before breed- 

 ing time. Its favourite food is nuts of any kind, and tree seeds. 

 It builds and roosts in hollow trees, and is seldom seen in the 

 open fields, unless when in quest of the stones of white-thorn. 

 It may be, therefore, properly called a forester. Its dexterity 

 in opening nuts and the stones of fruits is curious ; it fixes the 

 nut in a crack on the top of a post, or on the bark of a tree, 

 and, placing itself above it, head downwards, strikes with great 

 force and rapidity with its strong wedge-shaped bill on the 

 edge of the shell till it splits it open. When the food of these 

 birds is plentiful, they have a favourite crack for uushelling 

 the kernels, as sometimes a peck of broken shells may be seen 

 under this crack." 



According to Montagu, " it chooses the deserted habitation 

 of a Woodpecker in some tree for the place of its nidification. 

 This hole is first contracted by a plaster of clay, leaving only 

 sufficient room for itself to pass in and out. The nest is made 

 of dead leaves, most times that of the oak, which are heaped 

 together without much order. The eggs are six or seven m 



