TIIK NUTHATCH 



[ORDER: I'dsseriformes. FAMILY: SiUidat] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



(F. C. R. JOt'RDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON. E. L. TURNER] 



NUTHATCH [$*Ua europAa Linnaeus. SiUa cAsva Wolf. Nuthack, nut- 

 jobber, mudstopper, woodcracker, jar-bird. French, tarchtpot ; German, 

 Kltiber, SpecJUmeise ; Italian, picchio muratort]. 



I. Description. The nuthatch cannot be confused with any other British 

 bird, and may easily be recognised by the blue-grey upper parts, the buff under 

 surface, and short tail. The sexes are alike. (PI. 66.) Length 5*7 inches (145 mm.). 

 The upper parts are of a uniform blue-grey, somewhat darker on the wings. The 

 sides of the face are white, contrasting with the black lores and a black line running 

 from behind the eye backwards on to the neck. The throat is white, the rest of the 

 tinder parts rich rufous buff, save along the upper margin of the flanks, which is of 

 a rich chestnut-red, and the under tail-coverts which are white, each feather being 

 margined with chestnut-red. The two central tail feathers are blue-grey, the rest 

 black, those of the middle of the series tipped grey ; but in succeeding feathers a 

 large white spot appears on the tip of the inner web, a grey spot on the outer. 

 As the feathers are traced outwards the white spot spreads across to the outer web, 

 and, on the outermost, down the outer web for some distance, while the terminal 

 portion of these feathers is grey. The juvenile plumage differs from the adult in 

 lacking the rich dark chestnut-red on the flanks, and on the under tail-coverts 

 which are only faintly marked with pale brown in place of red. The black before 

 and behind the eye is tinged with brown, and the under parts are much paler, 

 [w. P. P.] 



a. Distribution. This species is distributed throughout Europe and 

 temperate Asia east to Japan, but is divided into many geographical races. 

 Our British local form, SiUa europcea britannica, Hartert, is the only one 

 which has occurred in the British Isles, and is resident in the central and 

 southern counties of England and Wales, only a rare straggler to Scotland, and 



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