214 THE NUTHATCH 



absent from Ireland. In Great Britain it is very rare 011 the western seaboard, 

 Cornwall, Pembroke, Cardigan Bay, Anglesey, and Carnarvon, and though it is said 

 to have formerly nested in Northumberland, Durham, and Lancashire, it is now 

 rarely met with north of lat. 55. A few breed in West Yorkshire, but it is 

 decidedly scarce in Lincoln, the north of Notts and Derbyshire and Cheshire (except 

 in the south-west). It is everywhere rather local and confined to parks, woodlands 

 and the neighbourhood of old timber. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Resident and non-migratory, although there is enough local 

 wandering in winter to make the distribution noticeably more even than in the 

 nesting season (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 85). But the species is almost 

 unknown actually outside its breeding area. There are a few exceptional records for 

 Scotland, but none for Ireland (cf. Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, 2nd ed., 1899, 

 p. 113). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Nesting site : in a natural hole or crevice of a tree as 

 a rule, but occasionally in nesting-boxes, holes in walls, sandbanks, old magpies' 

 nests, or even in the side of a haystack ! When the entrance of the hole is too large 

 it is plastered up with mud by the birds, and by far the greater number of nests show 

 some traces of mud round the edge of the hole. Old woodpeckers' borings are also 

 sometimes occupied. The hole is filled up with scales of the bark of the Scotch fir 

 or birch, and in some cases dead leaves or even dry grass have been recorded as used 

 for nest lining. (PI. xxvi.) Both sexes have been seen to share in building the 

 nest. (E. L. T.) Eggs 5 to 8 as a rule, occasionally up to 11 in number, white iu 

 ground colour, boldly spotted and blotched with dark and lighter red-brown and 

 showing a few violet-grey shellmarks. Some eggs are devoid of markings, while 

 others have only fine light red specks. (PI. D.) Average size of 100 eggs, 

 75 x -56 in, [19-2 x 14'3 mm.]. The eggs may be found towards the end of April, 

 or more frequently during the first two weeks of May. Incubation lasts apparently 

 about 13-14 days, and is probably performed by the hen alone (Naumann), though 

 Bechstein states that both sexes share in the work. A second brood is sometimes 

 reared, though the normal number is one only. [F. c. E. J.] 



5. Food. Chiefly minute insects and their larvae. During autumn and 

 winter it feeds largely on nuts and acorns. The young are fed by both parents 

 chiefly on small caterpillars and flies. [E. L. T.] 



6. Song Period. Frequently from the end of January to the beginning of 

 May : rarely in August and September. Also records during mild spells in the 

 other winter months (C. J. and H. G. Alexander, British Birds, iv. p. 275). 



