294 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



of trees. In exploring the bark it moves sideways and up 

 and down with the same faciHty as the Titmice, and with 

 the mouse-hke appearance that gives them their name. 

 The Nut-hatch's own name (' Nut-hack ') is derived from 

 its autumn-feeding habits. At that season it eats acorns 

 and hard seeds, but more notably hazel-nuts. One of these 

 it fixes firmly in a crevice, and then proceeds to smash 

 it with its strong little beak. Diu-ing the process the 

 whole body is worked from the hip-joints in a peculiar 

 and characteristic manner. 



The Nut-hatch's British range is very limited. For one 

 thing, it is another of the many indigenous birds in Great 

 Britain that are unknown across the Irish Sea. Attempts 

 to introduce it into Ireland have failed. In the south- 

 eastern and midland parts of England it is common in 

 suitable places. In Wales and the west and north it is 

 much more local, and it is found in only a few southern 

 counties of Scotland. 



The nest proper is a mere bed of dead leaves or pine- 

 ' needles "" ; but it is situated in a hole or crevice, usually 

 in a tree, but occasionally in a wall or bank or similar 

 situation. Sometimes the hole is too large, and it is then 

 partly blocked with mud and pebbles. Under peculiar 

 circumstances these materials may form what amounts to 

 a covered-in nest. A nest in a haystack has been recorded 

 which was made of eleven pounds of clay. Another, 

 built in four days in a nesting-box, comprised about three 

 pounds of mud and one thousand eight hundred and twenty 

 pieces of silver birch-bark, the nearest birch-tree being 

 two hundred and fifty yards distant ! The five to seven 

 eggs are well spotted with reddish brown on a white 

 ground. 



