SITTID.«. 



113 



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THE NUTHATCH. 



SiTTA ci:siA, Wolf. 



The Nuthatch is tolerably common in most of the districts in the 

 south-east and centre of England which contain old timber. In the 

 west it is rarer beyond Herefordshire, though perhaps increasing, 

 as it is in Brecon, Radnorshire and some other parts of Wales, 

 where it was formerly considered a very uncommon bird. In 

 Lancashire it is seldom seen, and in Yorkshire it is mostly restricted 

 to the large old parks ; while in the more northern counties it seems 

 to have decreased during the present century, and is now very rare. 

 In Scotland it has been obtained in Haddington-, Berwick- and 

 Roxburgh- shires, and observed in Skye ; it is also said to have 

 occurred on Bressay, in the Shetlands. In Ireland the Nuthatch is 

 as yet unknown : an attempt by Col. Cooper to introduce it at 

 Markree Castle, Sligo, seeming to have failed. 



On the Continent the northern limit of this species appears to be 

 the peninsula of Jutland, where it meets its close ally, S. europcra 

 (With nearly white under parts), which replaces S. ccesia in Scandi- 

 navia, Northern Russia and Siberia. From the Baltic southwards 

 to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, our bird is generally 

 distributed ; Loche records it from Algeria and Capt. S. G. Reid 

 from North-western Morocco ; and it has been obtained in Asia 

 Minor and Palestine. Eastward, it cannot with certainty be traced, 



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