NUTCRACKER. 



123 



the fourth, fifth, and sixth, nearly equal, and the longest in the wing. Tail 

 nearly square at the end. Tarsus longer than the middle toe ; toes three before, 

 one behind, the two outer toes on each side united at the base. 



The Nutcracker Crow, as it is sometimes called, has 

 been separated from the true Crows by most modern syste- 

 matic authors. Though allied to the Crows in several parti- 

 culars, this bird exhibits also some of the habits of the 

 Woodpeckers, and in systematic arrangement has therefore 

 been judiciously placed between the Crows and the Wood- 

 peckers, as a connecting form indicating by its modifications 

 the transition from the one to the other. Two species of the 

 genus Nucifraga of Brisson are now known. 



Although the Nutcracker is not uncommon in some parts 

 of Europe, its occurrence in this country is so rare that it 

 may be useful to enumerate such as have been recorded. 

 Pennant, in the edition of his British Zoology, published in 

 1766, says of the Nutcracker, vol. ii. p. ^Q5, that the spe- 

 cimen he took his description from was the only one he ever 

 heard of that was shot in these kingdoms. It was killed near 

 Mostyn in Flintshire, October 5th, 1753. 



Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, besides refer- 

 ring to the specimen killed in Flintshire, mentions anothei 

 that was killed in Kent. In the Supplement to his Dic- 

 tionary, under the article Nutcracker, he says, " Mr. Anstice 

 assures us he saw one of this rare species near Bridgcwater, 

 upon a Scotch fir, in the autumn of 1805. This accurate 

 observer of nature could not be deceived, as he examined the 

 bird, and attended to its actions for some time with the aid 

 of a pocket telescope, which he usually carried with him for 

 similar purposes. In August 1808, one of these birds was 

 shot in the north of Devon, now in the collection of Mr. 

 Comyns. Another is stated in the Monthly Magazine for 

 December 1808, to have been shot in Cornwall." 



Mr. Selby refers to one seen in Netherwitton Wood in 



