NUTCRACKER. 131 



feather the shortest, the fourth, fifth, and sixth, nearly equal, and the long- 

 est in the wing. Tail nearly square at the end. Tarsus longer than 

 the middle toe ; toes three before, one behind, the two outer toes on each 

 side united at the base. 



THE NUTCRACKER CROW, as it is sometimes called, has 

 been separated from the true Crows by most modern syste- 

 matic authors. Though allied to the Crows in several par- 

 ticulars, this bird exhibits also some of the habits of the 

 Woodpeckers, and in systematic arrangement has therefore 

 been judiciously placed between the Crows and the Wood- 

 peckers, as a connecting link indicating by its modifications 

 the transition from the one to the other. Two species of 

 the genus Nucifraga of Brisson are now known. 



Although the Nutcracker is not uncommon in some parts 

 of Europe, its occurrence in this country is so rare that it 

 may be useful to enumerate such as have been recorded. 

 Pennant, in the edition of his British Zoology published 

 in 1766, says of the Nutcracker, vol. ii. p. 265, that the 

 specimen he took his description from was the only one he 

 ever heard of that was shot in these kingdoms. It was 

 killed near Mostyn, in Flintshire, October 5th, 1753. 



Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, besides refer- 

 ring to the specimen killed in Flintshire, mentions another 

 that was killed in Kent. In the Supplement to his Dic- 

 tionary, under the article Nutcracker, he says, " Mr. 

 Anstice assures us he saw one of this rare species near 

 Bridgewater, upon a Scotch fir, in the autumn of 1805. 

 This accurate observer of nature could not be deceived, as 

 he examined the bird, and attended to its actions for some 

 time with the aid of a pocket telescope, which he usually 

 carried with him for similar purposes. In August, 1808, 

 one of these birds was shot in the north of Devon, now in 

 the collection of Mr. Comyns. Another is stated, in the 

 Monthly Magazine for December, 1808, to have been shot 

 in Cornwall." 



K 2 



