THE NUTHATCH ^11 



placed in the side of a haystack, built up with a mass of clay 

 weighing no less than eleven pounds, the nest itself measurm- 

 thirteen inches in height The entrance, however, is not always 

 plastered ; a ureat many nests may he found which show " no si^n of 

 mud, clay or stones." l Sometimes it is most difficult to tell whether 

 this is the case or not, so well does the addition match the tree or 

 wall. A pair of nuthatches occupied a hole in a garden-wall some 

 years in succession. In this case the aperture was partly filled with a 

 particularly hard kind of cement, "rough cast" on the outside. This 

 was apparently done by the little builders' feet, with the result that 

 the new work was brought into complete harmony with its surround- 

 in^. -I > that I had to examine it attentively to discover where the 

 original mortar ended and that manufactured by the birds began. 



Mr. F. Norgate describes various nests which he discovered, 

 one of which was lined with very hard clay discoloured with small 

 bits of lichen and indented everywhere by the bird's beak, so that 

 it resembled the bark of the nut-tree in which it was placed. The 

 entrance to another was blocked up with " A starling, dead and 

 stinking," while the " nuthatch was sitting with its bill almost resting 

 on the dead starling." A third nest " Made originally by Picus 

 major had been used by great-tits and starlings. The nuthatch's nest 

 was built in the putrid bodies of starlings." Mr. Norgate says he can- 

 not explain this.* 



One must, however, constantly bear in mind that birds can no 

 longer be simply spoken of en masse. Photography and bird- watching, 

 if they have taught us nothing else, have at any rate proved that there 

 is as much individuality amongst birds of any one species as there is 

 amongst dogs. I knew of a pair of nuthatches which built in a box, 

 and made their nest entirely of the ethereal " wings " which waft the 

 seeds of the Scotch fir to a considerable distance when the cones 

 ripen and split Almost as great a disparity of tastes may exist 

 between birds of the same species as is to be found amongst those 



1 Zoologist, 1808, p. 480. ' Zooloffitt, 1880, pp. 42-45. 



VOL. II. 2V 



