154 



BIRDS. 



The food of the nuthatch is varied, consisting of grubs, 

 beech-mast, nuts, and the like. The nuts are wedged in 



a fork and hammered with the bill until the 

 Method of , . . ,. T , 



feeding shell breaks, a proceeding 1 have witnessed 



many a time in the New Forest and else- 

 where ; and the bird throws its whole force into each blow. 



Now and again an 

 unusually refractory 

 nut is seized in the 

 bill and dashed re- 

 peatedly against the 

 trunk. 



Perhaps, however, 

 the most interesting 

 habit of this bird 

 is to be found in 

 its notions of archi- 

 tecture. It is, Jin 

 fact, a compromise 

 between the wood- 

 pecker that excavates its own nesting-hole and the lazier 

 starling that appropriates one ready made. For the nut- 

 hatch, though not taking the trouble to hew 

 Nesting- ^ W( - )0( j j cas t s a k ou t un til it lights on a hole 



that will serve its purpose, and then proceeds 

 to effect improvements in the front-door, which it plasters 

 with mud and stones until only just wide enough to admit 

 its body. The object of this has not been, so far as I 

 know, ascertained ; if it be done with the idea of making 

 the smaller hole less conspicuous, we have here one of the 

 instances in which bird-instinct is at fault. The " nest " 

 consists for the most part of such bark and rubbish as 

 may be within the hole. Eygs, 5 to 8, ^ inch; white, 

 with brown blotches. 



