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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 young are at first covered 

 with long white down. 



NUTCRACKER. 



NFCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES, 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. 



