The Nuthatch. 39 
very short, the last longer. Besides these call notes 
the bird sometimes makes a purring sort of sound, 
resembling the syllable “tyrrh” repeated quickly 
twice, and a third time prolonged. 
The nesting habits of the Nuthatch are peculiar 
and interesting. It makes its nest in some natural 
hole in a tree, but should the entrance to the cavity 
prove larger than is required for ingress and egress, 
or should there be an unevenness in it, the little 
builder plasters it round with mud, and finishes it 
off to the size required, for it never seems satisfied 
until the entrance to its home is exactly round, and 
only just large enough for it to enter. Its useful 
beak thus forms a double tool—a chopper and a 
trowel! Like the swallow this bird uses the 
mud when it is wet and sticky, and piece by 
piece it is carried in the beak to the hole, where it 
is carefully plastered to the wood, until at last the 
task is done. Whenthe mud becomes hard and dry 
it is seen to be covered with minute holes—the marks 
of the bird’s beak, showing with what care the work 
has been accomplished. From this singular habit 
of plastering the entrance to its nest with mud, the 
bird has earned the name in some parts of the country 
—in the New Forest for instance—of Mud-dabber. 
We have, in the plate at the beginning of this 
chapter, a good example of such a plastered hole. 
