166 THE BIEDS OF SUSSEX. 



placing a Thrush's nest on a little platform of turf four or five 

 feet from the ground, among the underwood, and surrounding 

 the nest with steel traps. In captivity it will imitate the 

 noises of the neighbourhood. The blue feathers of the wing 

 are in great repute among anglers for the dressing of their 

 salmon -flies. It is frequently much infested by a species of 

 Hippobosca. 



NUTCRACKER. 



Nucifraga caryocatactes. 



The only occurrence of this bird in Sussex is the following : — 

 On the 26th of October, 1844, 1 saw one at a bird-stufter's in 

 Brighton, which I was told he liad received, in the flesh, from 

 a farmer of the name of Newman. On him I called, and 

 was informed that it was shot by his nephew, Mr. Roods, at 

 Littlington, on the 26th of the previous September. It was 

 flying across a turnip-field, and appeared to have risen from 

 a stubble near at hand. Unfortunately the interior had 

 been removed before it was sent to Brighton. It is a mature 

 bird. The sex was not ascertained, nor what it had been 

 feeding on. I bought it, and have it still. It is said to be 

 not uncommon in some parts of Europe. The following ac- 

 count by a lady relative, Mrs. Blackburne, of Henfield, a 

 great and accurate observer of birds, gives so graphic a 

 description of its manners, that I think I may, as the lawyers 

 say, " put it in ; " it was written out at my request in 

 March 1890 :— 



" You asked me to give you an account of the Nutcracker 

 which I saw in Switzerland. 



" We were walking from the Eggischhorn to the Bel Alp, 



