47(i sittid.t:. 



spotted and blotched, sometimes boldly, with reddish-brown 

 and occasionally dull purple, and measure from 'S'S to '1 by 

 from '59 to '53 in. Should the nest be examined while the 

 hen is sitting she makes a resolute defence, hissing like a 

 snake and using her sharp bill against the invader's fingers 

 so as sometimes to draw blood. 



The actions of this bird are very amusing, and where it 

 occurs it may easily be induced to come under observation 

 by fixing a few nuts in the bark of any suitable tree, the 

 supply being renewed as wanted. The kernel of a nut 

 pinned to the bark is sure to tempt a visitor, and if this be 

 done within sight of a window, the bird's habits may be 

 most conveniently watched*. Crusts of bread, no matter 

 how hard, exposed in winter on a window-sill, likewise attract 

 this species, and great pleasure may be derived from seeing 

 the way in which the bird will carry off a piece half as big 

 as itself to eat it at leisure. The quantity thus consumed 

 is enormous. There is, however, the disadvantage of the 

 Nuthatch driving away almost every other recipient of such 

 doles — the pugnacious Redbreast not excepted. No true 

 naturalist need be told that the mode just described of 

 studying the habits of this species is far better than trying 

 to cage it. The old birds, indeed, will not bear confinement 

 at all, and, though readily eating almost anything that is 



* Some very interesting observations thus made are recorded (Zool. p. 213), 

 by Mr. J. C. Atkinson. Almost daily for two years he watched a pair vt'hich 

 I'esorted to an old mulberry-tree, standing about eight or ten feet from a window. 

 " They were there the first thing in the morning, and appai-ently the last thing 

 before going to roost. Seeing that the nuts were carried away whole, I began 

 to crack them, and fix the kernel only in the crevices, or by means of pins, to 

 the tree. The greater part of the nuts were now eaten on the spot ; occasion- 

 ally, when a large piece was got, the birds flew away with it to some tall trees 

 close by, hut very soon returned for more. Their absence on these occasions was 

 very short, certainly not long enough to lead me to suppose they had time to eat 

 the nut ; I concluded it was either added to a store already existing, or depo- 

 sited on the tall trees " The cock would never allow the hen to feed at the 

 same time that he was feeding, though in the breeding season he would feed 

 her with much apparent tenderness. "Latterly these birds became so tame 

 as to sit within two feet or so of my head, while I was preparing their feast, 

 and if I threw a nut into the air to them, they would fly after and catch it. 

 They took dozens in this way." 



