88 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



it from the stalk, but never saw it profit by its 

 success in following the nut to the ground and 

 endeavouring to extract the kernel, which in the 

 soft condition of a new walnut would not seem diffi- 

 cult. But possibly the bird's aim was to get at 

 some lurking insect in the softer portion of the 

 stalk at the point of its attachment with the pod of 

 the walnut, and hence the fall of the latter to the 

 ground would be the result of accident rather 

 than design. 



That it is partial to nuts, however, has been 

 proved by more than one observer, and its ability 

 to crack the shell of a sound hazel-nut was fre- 

 quently witnessed by a correspondent of the Irish 

 naturalist, Thompson. " These birds," says Mr. 

 Poole, " seem to derive a considerable proportion of 

 their autumn subsistence from the kernels of hazel- 

 nuts. They may be heard at that season in every 

 direction, in a wood, hammering the nuts on the 

 branches of the trees to break them." 



In further illustration of the omnivorous habits 

 of this bird may be mentioned its partiality for bees. 

 "At Beverley," says Mr. Boyes (Zoologist, 1876, p. 

 4873), "these birds have long been known to fre- 



