NUTHATCH -23 



it plainly to iny eye, with the little impertinent 

 head well thrown back and all on one side, and 

 looking straight at me. I laughed, but she did 

 not go. No, they are not interesting birds, but it 

 is an advantage that you can distinguish the cock 

 and hen, and also, to some extent, the old and 

 young ; and I cannot forget the confiding way in 

 which that old lady and her husband brought their 

 son and daughter to be fed and taught to feed 

 upon my window-sill last spring. 



The nuthatch is a very amusing bird, with a 

 great deal of character, as one would imagine it 

 likely to have, with its curious figure, and its fine 

 large dark inquiring eyes. They do not come 

 every winter, but this winter they have been very 

 constant visitors in the morning. Though they 

 take it, they do not seem to care much for bread ; 

 but I put out scraps of bacon after breakfast, and 

 then there is 'immense excitement among them: 

 they dare anything and everything for it, sending 

 all the other birds to the right about, and looking 

 me boldly in the face. One there are only two 

 that come, I think seems rather afraid of the 

 other, and is rather smaller, and not quite so bold. 

 I have however seen them, with lance in rest, 

 ready to fly at each other. Their appetite for 

 bacon seems to be unappeasable ; they pack their 

 large beaks full, and bustle off with it, and are 



