314 CERTHIDiE. 



as being made of dry leaves and moss ; but, whatever the 

 materials may be, the nest itself is invariably placed in 

 the bole of a tree. There are good reasons for believing 

 that in case of necessity the bird enlarges the cavity to 

 make its dwelling sufficiently commodious, chips of wood 

 having been sometimes found in the vicinity ; but what 

 makes the JSTuthatch singular among British birds is, that 

 it not only enacts the carpenter when occasion arises, but 

 adds the vocation of plasterer. 



In the case above alluded to I do not loiow that its 

 powers were called out in either of these capacities. As 

 a plasterer it had no occasion to work, for the opening to 

 the hole was so small that it required to be cut away in 

 order to admit a boy's hand, but many instances are 

 recorded when it selected a hole with a large orifice 

 which it contracted by lining it with a thick coat of mud 

 and gravel. This parapet, constructed either to keep out 

 bulky intruders or to keep in the young birds, if injured 

 or destroyed will be found restored after a short lapse of 

 time ; and so devoted a mother is the hen bkd that she 

 will suffer herself to be taken rather than desert her brood. 

 I have rarely noticed a Nuthatch on the ground during 

 winter, but in spring and summer it adds to its diet 

 terrestrial insects and worms, and is said also to be partial 

 to red currants — not a singular taste. But the fruit 

 which has an especial charm for the IN^uthatch is that 

 from which it derives its name.* Its keen eye detects 

 the ripening filbert in the garden or orchard before the 

 hazels in the wood are beginning to turn brown, and it then 

 despises less dainty food. One by one the clusters are 

 pecked open and their contents purloined, carried, perhaps, 

 to some convenient storehouse for future banquetings. f 



*'From the French hacher, "to chop;" hence also "hatchet." 

 f I have given elsewhere my reasons for believing that the Nut- 

 hatch stores away its food. See " Rambles in the Four Seasons," 

 Spring, p. 47. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.) 



