NUTCRACKER. 133 



tions having seen them. P. Roux includes the Nutcracker 

 among his Birds of Provence, and M. Savi also in his Birds 

 of Italy. Although, properly speaking, the Nutcracker is 

 not a migratory bird, yet M. Vieillot observes that they 

 frequently wander from one part of the country to another, 

 probably because some article of food fails them. They 

 unite occasionally, forming numerous flocks, quit the moun- 

 tains, and descend to spread their numbers over the plains, 

 always selecting those in which they find abundance of 

 firs. Their food consists of insects, seeds of pines, beech- 

 mast, and nuts : these last they are said to crack like the 

 Nuthatch, by fixing them in a crevice of the bark of a tree, 

 and then pecking at them with great force with the beak. 

 Messrs. Wolf and Meyer, in their History of the Birds of 

 Germany, and M. Nilsson, in his Ornithology of Sweden, 

 and M. Temminck, in his Manual of the Birds of Europe, 

 each state that the Nutcracker does occasionally feed on 

 eggs or young birds, thus resembling the Crows ; and it is 

 also said that it can climb the bark of a tree, like the 

 Woodpecker. A gentleman who had travelled in Norway, 

 where he had seen the Nutcracker, says, " That they fre- 

 quent the extreme tops of the pines, keeping a sharp look- 

 out, and are very shy. When on the wing, the flight is like 

 that of the Jackdaw. They nest in holes of trees, which 

 they excavate or enlarge sufficiently for their purpose, like 

 the Woodpeckers ; " and this is not the only point of re- 

 semblance to that tribe of birds, for he found that the 

 middle feathers of the tail were worn by climbing among 

 the trunks and branches of trees. 



During the autumn of 1844 an unusual number of Nut- 

 crackers were observed to visit different parts of Europe. 

 They were particularly noticed in Germany and Belgium ; 

 many appeared in the southern part of Sweden, and my 

 friend Mr. Dann, now residing in that country, whose com- 



