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horizontal branch of some tree, such as the birch, 
&c. It breeds on the ground, making no nest, but 
generally selecting a dry spot where the ferns have 
prevented the growth of the lower herbage. It 
lays but two eggs, white, marbled with yellowish 
brown and grey. The youngare at first covered 
with long white down. 
NUTCRACKER. 
NvciFraGa caryocataotss, Mont. 
The Nutcracker, which inhabits woods and 
forests in mountainous regions In many parts 
of Northern Europe, is a rare visitor to Great 
Britain, very few instances being upon record of 
its having been observed in this country. It 
obtains its name from the alleged habit of splitting 
with its bill the shell of nuts, or other hard fruits, on 
which it feeds. It ascends the trunks of trees with 
facility, and feeds on the various insects and larvae 
that inhabit the bark and wood, as well as on nuts 
and the seeds of the different kinds of fir. It makes 
its nest in the hole of a decayed tree, and lays five 
or six eggs, of a yellowish grey colour, with spots 
or blotches of yellowish or wood brown. 
