490 THE NUTCRACKER. 



The Nutcracker. 



Genus— NUCIFRAGA. (Briss.) 



Nucifraga Caryocatactes. (Briss.) Corvus Caryocatactes. (Linn J. 



As this bird is a very rare straggler in Britain, I never saw it 

 here. It is about the size of the jay, but has a much longer 

 bill. The general plumage is reddish-brown, with oblong white 

 spots ; tail, black, with a broad white bar at the end. So if any 

 of my readers see a rare bird in old woods, size of the jay, these 

 may help to discern it. It is the connecting link between the 

 crows and the woodpeckers, and is called the nut-cracking crow. 

 It feeds on the seeds of different firs and nuts, which, like the 

 nuthatch, it breaks by repeated strokes of its bill; lives in the 

 great mountain forests of the north of Europe ; is common in 

 Switzerland ; breeds in holes of trees, and lays five or six yellow - 

 grey eggs. 



As the Corvidce form the third family of the Conirostres, or 

 thick-billed perchers, and as there are no representatives of the 

 fourth and fifth families found in Europe — hence not in Fife — 

 I pass on to the fourth tribe of the order, Insessores, the 

 Scanso?*es, or climbers, which tribe (as its name implies) contains 

 all birds noted for grasping and climbing, most of them having 

 their toes in pairs — two in front and two behind, like the 

 parrots, instead of three before and one behind, like the rest of 

 the Insessores. The five families or divisions that compose the 

 tribe are the Psittacidce, Picidce, Certhiadce, Cuculidce, and 

 Ramphustidce. We have representatives of only three in 

 Britain, the Picadce, Certhiadce, and Cuculidce. So I pass the 

 first, and begin with the woodpeckers. 



