112 NATURAL HISTORY 



and yet they open them each in a different 

 way. The first, after rasping off the small 

 end, splits the shell in two with his long 

 fore teeth, as a man does with his knife ; 

 the second nibbles a hole with his teeth, 

 so regular as if drilled with a wimble, and 

 yet so small that one would wonder how 

 the kernel can be extracted through it; 

 while the last picks an irregular ragged 

 hole with its bill: but as this artist has 

 no paws to hold the nut firm while he 

 pierces it, like an adroit workman, he fixes 

 it, as it were in a vice, in some cleft of a 

 tree, or in some crevice ; when, standing 

 over it, he perforates the stubborn shell. 

 We have often placed nuts in the chink 

 of a gate-post where nut-hatches have been 

 known to haunt, and have always found 

 that those birds have readily penetrated 

 them. While at work they make a rap- 

 ping noise that may be heard at a consi- 

 derable distance. 



You that understand both the theory and 

 practical part of music may best inform us 

 why harmony or melody should so strangely 



