366 NUTHATCH. 



list. The bird of Britain is, so far as we have 

 ascertained, of local distribution, occurring most 

 frequently towards the south of England, and 

 becoming a rare bird upon the border. On this 

 account, we are again obliged to have recourse 

 to the authority of others instead of our own 

 observations. Mr Selby states, that he has traced 

 it to the banks of the Wear and Tyne, and we 

 have no record of its occurrence farther north, 

 neither is it noted in Mr Thompson's Irish list. 

 Out of Britain, it seems to be spread generally 

 over middle Europe, but we do not know its 

 exact range, or whether it crosses the Asiatic 

 boundary, or is there represented by other allied 

 species. In its habits, the Nuthatch is a truly 

 scansorial bird, hanging and climbing about the 

 trunks and branches of trees with the greatest 

 ease and activity, and in all positions. At the 

 same time, it is more frequently seen upon the 

 ground than birds of its structure ; and here it is 

 occupied in the search after seeds and nuts, on 

 which it feeds as well, as upon insects. Mon- 

 tague mentions, that they frequent the apple 

 orchards during the cider season, and pick out 

 the seeds from the refuse of the pressed apples. 

 A writer in London's Magazine mentions them 

 frequenting the ground under the yews in Ken- 

 sington Gardens in company with the Titmice, 

 and there feeding on the kernels of the yew 

 berries ; and in Bushy Park, my brother used 

 frequently to catch the Nuthatch in the common 

 fall-trap baited with crumbs of bread. 



