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BRITISH BIRDS. 
Genus NUCIFRAGA. 
The genus Nucifraga was established by Brisson in 1760, in his ‘ Orni- 
thologia, ii. p. 58. He designated the Common Nutcracker as the type, 
calling it Nucifraga nucifraga. This genus contains only four species, 
easily distinguished from the British Corvine by their spotted throats and 
black-and-white tails. They belong to the long-winged group of the 
Corvin, in which the tail is less than three fourths the length of the 
wing. The bill is rather long, straight, and pointed; the nostrils are 
covered with bristly feathers ; and the tarsus is scutellated. 
The Nutcrackers are confined to the Palzarctic Region and to the Rocky 
Mountains in the extreme west of the Nearctic Region. But one species 
is found in Europe, which is an accidental straggler to the British 
Islands. 
The Nutcrackers inhabit the northern forests, and in more southern 
latitudes the mountain-forests. heir habits resemble those of the Jays; 
but they are not so omnivorous as the rest of the Corvine, feeding chiefly 
on nuts and fruits. Their notes are harsh and shrill. Their nests are 
large cup-shaped structures ; and their eggs are greenish or bluish white, 
spotted with brown. 
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