166 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xxi 



first that the bird had chosen this tree on 

 account of the character of its bark and of its 

 sloping trunk, which made the retention of the 

 nut in its place an easy matter ; and secondly, 

 that as this was the 3Oth of May the nut must 

 have come from a store, probably hidden 

 somewhere by the bird, for of course the nut 

 must have been a last year's nut : as I have 

 heard this tapping at different times all 

 through the winter and spring the store of 

 nuts must have been pretty large to have 

 lasted until now. 



