» 
46 THE NUTHATCH 
produce will prove exceedingly small. I have seen trees bearing 
a fine crop of husks but nearly all empty. The proprietor had 
suffered them to remain till they were ripe, the Nuthatches had 
taken a different view of the case and preferred them unripe rather 
than not at all. But what, it may be asked, can a bird little larger 
than a Sparrow find to do with a filbert, or even a hazel-nut ? 
Here we have a fresh distinctive feature in the biography of the 
Nuthatch. The bird carries off its prey in its beak, and when 
in want of a meal wedges the nut in the crevice of some rough- 
barked tree, such as an oak, an elm, or a walnut. This done, he 
takes his stand, head downwards, above the nut, throws back 
his head to gather force for a blow, and then brings it violently 
forwards many times in rapid succession, aided, too, by the weight of 
his body and a clapping of the wings in exact time with each stroke. 
By dint of repeated blows thus dealt by his strong beak, even the 
hard shell of a filbert at last gives way ; a small hole is the result, 
which is soon enlarged, and the kernel becomes the hardly-earned 
prize. Any one who will take the trouble to examine the trunks 
of old oaks and elms will be sure to find shells still remaining 
wedged into the bark, and if during a ramble in the woods in 
autumn or winter, or even in early spring, he should happen to 
hear a smart tapping, let him follow the direction of the sound, 
and he will stand a fair chance of discovering the clever little nut- 
cracker at work. If in the course of his operations the bird happens 
to dislodge a nut, so nimble is he that before it reaches the ground 
he will have caught it in his beak. Acorns and the nuts of yew- 
berries, and probably other hard seeds, are similarly treated by 
the Nuthatch; cherrystones, I suspect, are beyond his powers, 
yielding only to the massive beak of the Hawfinch. The Nuthatch 
may easily be induced to visit gardens by wedging hazel or Spanish 
nuts into the bark of trees ; a walnut fastened on by a pin is equally 
effectual. But no more enticing bait can be set than a lump of 
fat meat, which should be tied tightly by a string to the horizontal 
branch of an apple-tree or any other tree, a good view of which can 
be commanded from the house. If the weather be severe and the 
ground covered with snow, it is surprising what a variety of birds 
will come to partake of the unknown food. Robins, Sparrows, 
Tits of several kinds, Chaffinches, and others flock for a share, not 
without sundry bickerings, alarms, and semblances of fighting. 
But should a Nuthatch happen to appear, all retire until his high- 
ness is satisfied. He enters upon the scene in a way of his own. 
Other birds alight on a bough or twig at some little distance from the 
banquet and make gradual advances Not so the Nuthatch ; 
he. darts forward in a horizontal line, as if propelled by a missile, 
sticks by his claws to whatever part of the branch he happens to 
touch, not caring in what attitude he alights, stops for a second as 
if to assure himself in what direction his head is pointing, creeps 
