COMMON NUTCRACKER. 251 



COMMON NUTCRACKER, NUCIFRAGA CARYO- 

 CATACTES, Briss. Corvus caryocatactes, Linn. 

 Caryocatactes, Will. Nutcracker, Nutcracking. 

 Crow of British authors. As a British bird, very 

 few instances are on record of the Nutcracker 

 having been seen or captured* The following 

 may be mentioned : two noted by Montague, 

 one killed in North Devon, the other in Corn- 

 wall; and, in addition, Mr Selby states that the 

 bird was once seen in Northumberland in Nether- 

 witton Wood. Of its habits we desiderate much 

 a correct account from observation ; so far as the 

 works of authors describe the bird, we know it to 

 be gregarious, that it frequents wooded alpine 

 regions, feeding partially on the kernels of hard 

 seeds, and on insects ; breeding in the holes of 

 decayed trees, and occasionally ascending their 

 trunks in a climbing manner. 



This is the account Temrainck gives us. Mr 

 Selby, in a note, has stated, on the authority of 

 his brother, who met with a large flock in a forest 

 in Switzerland, composed of pinasters and stone 

 pines, that they were busily engaged feeding on 

 the seeds contained in the cones.* The locality 

 of the Himalaya bird in general confirms these 

 accounts. 



Crown of the head and nape blackish brown ; 



the quills black, with a narrow tip of white on 



some of the last, feathers of the bend of the wing 



and on the shoulders tipped with white ; the tail 



* Vol. i. p. 68. 



