NUTHATCH. 115 



Allis (above), four examples are said to have been actually 

 obtained, and if this be correct these birds must either 

 have been wanderers from the Scottish forests, or, what is 

 more probable, individuals which have straggled across the 

 North Sea from the Continent, with other small migrants. 

 The particulars relating to those which have been preserved, 

 so far as it is possible to obtain details, are : 



Whitby, one, March 1872, on the Newton House estate, 

 and now in the Whitby local museum. Mr. T. Stephenson 

 states that Parker (formerly the keeper at Newton House, 

 where larch plantations are plentiful) saw the bird in both 

 summer and winter. (Stephenson, MS. and ZooL 1872, 

 p. 3021). 



Thirsk, one taken to Mr. Robert Lee, who preserved it 

 41 many years ago." (Lee, MS. 1880.) 



It is unfortunate that full details respecting these 

 specimens are not available. 



The reported occurrences of this bird in March 1870, 

 and August 1887, near Bradford and Keighley, mentioned 

 in the " Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire " (p. 24), and in the 

 Naturalist (1888, p. 15), are, as I am informed by Mr. E. P. 

 Butterfield, not authenticated by subsequent investigation.* 



NUTHATCH. 

 Sitta caesia ( Wolf). 



Resident ; local ; not at all numerous ; chiefly confined to old 

 timbered parks. 



The earliest reference to this bird in connection with York- 

 shire is contained in a communication from Ralph Johnson 

 of Brignall, near Greta Bridge, to John Ray, in 1678, thus : 



" The Nuthatch or Nut- Jobber Picus cinereus She hath 



* Those interested in the occasional appearance in England of the 

 Crested Tit would do well to peruse Mr. J. H. Gurney's article on this 

 subject in the Zoologist (1890, p. 210), and Naturalist (1891, p. 116). 



