NUTHATCH. 477 



given them, they soon kill themselves through their unceas- 

 ing efforts to escupe. The young, however, may he reared 

 with less risk, and Sir William Jardine, in a note to his 

 edition of Wilson's 'American Ornithology' (i. p. 37), relates 

 his having seen a brood in captivity which had become 

 remarkably tame, and, when released from their cage, would 

 run over their owner in all directions, up or down his body 

 and limbs, poking their bills into seams or holes, as if in 

 search of food, and uttering, during the time, a low and 

 plaintive cry. " When running up or down," he says, 

 " they rest upon the back part of the whole tarsus, and make 

 great use as a support, of what may be called the real heel, 

 and never use the tail." He further adds that when roost- 

 ing, they sleep with the head and back downwards, as do 

 most species of Titmouse — a statement which has been 

 corroborated by ]\Ir. Blyth. 



The Nuthatch is found pretty commonly in most of the 

 wooded parts of southern, eastern and central England, and 

 though more local and rare in the north-western and northern 

 counties, may be said to breed regularly throughout the 

 country. It is not found in Ireland, and in Scotland its 

 a]ipearance is merely accidental ; of late years, according to 

 Mr. Gray, it has only occurred thrice, once in Berwickshire, 

 once in Haddingtonshire and once in Bressey, one of the 

 Shetlands*; but it has been formerly recorded from Perthshire 

 and Forfarshire. On the continent its most northern limit 

 seems to be Jutland, and it is found on the island of Funen, 

 where also Sitta europ(ca occurs, but on the other Danish 

 islands the latter entirely replaces it. It inhabits the whole 

 of Germany, and probably the southern parts of Eussia, but 

 even near Moscow the northern form only seems to exist. 

 Of its range further eastward all that can at present be said 

 with certainty is that Mr. Blanford obtained it in Persia. A 

 red-bellied Nuthatch indeed is found in southern Siberia and 

 on the Amoor, but, as Mr. Dresser suggests, it may possibly 



• Tliis specimen does not seem to have been exainincil by any one aware of 

 tlie differences between Sitta civa'm and the northern -S'. curopwit. It may pos- 

 siblv liavu belonirod to tiie latter. 



