teeta ed 
NUTCRACKER. 583 
NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES. 
NUTCRACKER. 
(Prater 16.) 
Nucifraga nucifraga, Briss. Orn. ii. p- 59 (1760). 
Corvus caryocatactes, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. yp. 157 (1766); et auctorum plurimo- 
rum — (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), (Gray), (Salvadori), (Dresser), 
(Sharpe), (Newton), &e. 
Nucifraga guttata, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. v. p. 354 (1816). 
Caryocatactes maculatus, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p- 93 (1816). 
Nucifraga caryocatactes (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamma. $e. Brit. Mus. p. 18 (1816). 
Caryocatactes nucifraga, Milss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 90 (1817). 
Caryocatactes guttatus (Vieill.), Milss, Shand. Faun. i. p. 149 (1835). 
Caryocatactes caryocatactes (Linn.), Schl. Rev. Crit. i. p. lv (1844). 
The Nutcracker has very little claim to be considered a British bird ; 
but as nearly a score examples have been seen or obtained in various parts 
of England and Scotland, it may be looked upon as an irregular straggler 
to our islands during the autumn migration. The Nutcracker is essen- 
tially a forest bird; and is found in all suitable localities throughout the 
Palearctic Region, but very rarely breeding north of the Arctic circle. In 
Norway it has not been recorded north of lat. 64°; but in Sweden it has 
been observed as far north as lat. 67°. Harvie-Brown and I did not find 
it in the Petchora; but Dr. Hoffmann observed it in lat. 62° near the 
sources of that river. In the valley of the Yenesay I found it between lat. 
64° and 67°; Dybowsky mentions its abundance near Lake Baikal ; Midden- 
dorff found it as far east as the Stanavoi Mountains, north of the sea of 
Ochotsk, about lat. 64°; and Schrenck and Radde found it common in thes 
valley of the Amoor. In Europe it breeds in the pine-forests of South 
Norway and Sweden, on some of the islands in the Baltic, and probably also 
in the mountains of Southern Spain and Sardinia. It certainly breeds in the 
Black Forest, in the Alps, and the Carpathians, and probably also on all the 
mountains of Central Asia. The Nutcracker appears everywhere to be a 
resident ; but in autumn the birds gather together in large flocks, which 
frequently wander very far from home, especially during winter, when 
they irregularly appear in various parts of Europe, Japan, and North 
China. ; 
‘In Cashmere the Nutcracker is represented by a very nearly allied 
species, Nucifraga multipunctata, differing only in being considerably larger 
in size, and in having the white on each feather much more developed and 
To the south-east, in the Himalayas, where the 
the brown much darker. yas, 
1 greater, our bird is replaced 
climate is more tropical and the rainfall mucl 
by N. hemispila. This is as large a bird as the preceding ; but the change 
