In the Neighhourhood of Salisbury. 303 



these birds, in the spring of 1875, fly into a tall poplar standing on 

 the Vicarage lawn, and after causing a great commotion, it flew off 

 with a young thrush in its bill, pursued in vain for some distance 

 by the parent birds. As another instance of this kind, J. A. T. 

 Powell, Esq., tells me that he one day shot one of these birds with 

 a full-grown chaffinch half-way down its throat, which seems to 

 show the tricks he is often up to in this way. This bird is a great 

 adept at keeping you in entire ignorance as to the whereabouts of 

 his nest, not altogether from the care with which he hides it as from 

 the fact that he never allows you to see him in its immediate vicinity. 

 Mr. Powell thus writes to me on the subject : " I think, without any 

 exception. Jays' nests are the most difficult of any birds to find. In 

 a covert here there are annually two or three trips of young Jays 

 bred, and I can sometimes find out within thirty or forty yards 

 square, where they are ; but never — and I try every year — can I 

 discover the nest until the young are flown.^' As an instance of 

 which he once showed me an old nest, which he had hunted for over 

 and over again, but which hatched out in safety, when he discovered 

 it in the middle of a thick thorn bush, which actually hung over the 

 keeper^s cottage, and though he was there almost daily not once had 

 he detected the old birds near the place. 



Nuc^'fraga Caryocatactes. " The Nutcracker." This very rare bird 

 I cannot find any instance of in this county : but Mr. Hart informs 

 me that two fine specimens of this species were killed near Christ- 

 church about the year 1857, one of which is now in his own museum, 

 and the other went to a Mr. Gurney. Its beak is uncommonly 

 powerful, and it would seem to be a greater enemy to small birds 

 even than the Jay. Meyer mentions that it has been known to 

 attack and devour a squirrel ; its usual food, however, would seem 

 to consist of nuts and acorns. 



SCANSOEES (PlCID^) . 



We come now to the family of the Scansores, or Climbers, of 

 which the Woodpeckers form the chief group ; and of all birds there 

 are none more interesting, both from the |)eauty of their plumage 

 and their comparative rarity, as well as from their peculiar habits. 



