NUTMEG NYCTAGINE.fi. 



dancers into numberless positions, together with the 

 peculiar chattering of each, are altogether very 

 amusing; conveying the idea of hungry diligence, 

 bustle, and activity." 



THE BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH (S. pusilld) is 

 another American species, resembling the last-men- 

 tioned one in its manners, but differing in its locality, 

 its colours, and being a little smaller. It is about 

 four inches and a quarter long, and not eight inches 

 in the stretch of the wings. The upper part of the 

 head and neck are light rusty-brown, except a white 

 spot near the setting on of the neck. The brown is 

 mottled with darker spots of the same, and there is a 

 dusky streak across the nostril to the eye. The 

 chin and sides of the neck under the eyes are white ; 

 the wings are dusky, with some of the secondary 

 quills and coverts slate-colour, which last is the 

 colour of the upper part of the two middle feathers of 

 the tail, and of the tips of the other tail feathers ; but 

 there is a white bar across all the tail feathers near 

 their tips, and within this bar all across the two 

 middle ones are black. The legs and feet are dull 

 blue ; the bill is black, but blue toward the base of 

 the lower mandible, and the irides are hazel. The 

 female has the head darker brown, and the dark 

 streak across the eye less conspicuous. The voice 

 of this bird is also more shrill than that of the red- 

 bellied one, and it is more social, being found in small 

 flocks during the winter. It is an exceedingly active 

 and vigilant little bird, moving in all directions, and 

 upon the most slender twigs of the trees with great 

 activity, so that there are very few of the smaller 

 birds of North America, of which it is more difficult 

 to obtain specimens. It is not understood to reach 

 Canada, or the northern, or indeed the central states 

 of the American Union. 



Nuthatches are also mentioned as occurring in 

 Jamaica and some others of the American islands, 

 and parts of continental America farther to^the south ; 

 but the accounts of these are by no means precise, 

 and it is possible that they may be the same as some 

 of the North American species. There are specific 

 differences between all of these and the nuthatch of 

 Europe ; but as the habits and habitations are so 

 nearly the same, it is probable that they may be sub- 

 ject to the same changes of colour as we have noticed 

 in the European one ; and, therefore, a new species 

 must not be hastily founded on a single specimen. 

 From the general habits of the birds, however, which 

 are not migratory at all in some of the species, and 

 but very slightly so in others, it is scarcely to be sup- 

 posed that they could pass even as stragglers from 

 the United States to the West India islands. We 

 are, however, very much in want of correct inform- 

 ation relative to the geographical arrangement of the 

 forest birds of America, which are certainly more dif- 

 ferent from each other in different latitudes, than 

 the birds of the eastern continent. The division be- 

 tween North and South America, in a natural point 

 of view, is also greater than in the eastern continent ; 

 and as those tenants of the pine forests do not inhabit 

 at very great elevations in their native localities, we 

 are not to suppose that they would gain those heights 

 in Mexico, on which alone pines are to be met with 

 in that country ; while, as they avoid the forests of 

 deciduous trees in the north, it is not likely that they 

 would follow the line of the coast of the Caribbean 

 Sea. 



VIOLACEOUS NUTHATCH (5. fronlalis}. This is a 



more beautifully coloured bird than the European or 

 any of the American species. The upper parts, in- 

 cluding the head and nape, are rich azure ; the sides 

 of the neck and cheeks purplish-blue, and a distinct 

 black band across the forehead (from which the spe- 

 cific name is given), and a smaller one of the same 

 colour along each eye. The quill and tail feathers 

 are blue, clouded with ash-colour ; the chin white ; 

 the rest of the under part pale ash, clouded with 

 purple ; the naked parts of the feet brown ; and the 

 bill yellow in the greater part of its length, but black 

 at the tip. This species measures about five inches 

 in length ; it is found in the forests of Sumatra, Java, 

 and various other of the eastern islands. Its manners 

 are little known ; but it is highly probable that they 

 differ considerably from those of the species which 

 inhabit the pine forests of the north ; nor is it at all 

 unlikely, that if it were possible to examine those 

 forests with the attention which its importance de- 

 serves, other species of these as well as tree birds 

 of different genera would be found in them. 



Some specimens of this genus have been brought 

 from New Holland, which are still different from any 



: of those hitherto described. One in particular has 



I the colours of the last-named one reversed, being 

 ash-coloured above 'and bright blue on the under 

 part, and having the wings margined with golden 

 yellow. Specimens have also been brought from 

 Southern Africa, still different from these ; but we 

 have no account of their manners in that part of the 

 world ; and specimens imported from the Cape are 

 not always natives of that country. 



NUTMEG is the fruit, or rather the seed, of the 

 Myristica ojjlcinalis of Linnaeus, a well-known and 

 valuable spice. 



NUTTALLIA (Dickson). A genus of carrot- 

 rooted herbs, natives of North America, belonging to 

 the natural order Malvaceae. They are cultivated in 

 light rich soil, and, being almost hardy, succeed in 

 our flower gardens with a slight defence against heavy 

 rains and frost. They sometimes ripen seeds by 

 which they may be increased. 



NUT TREE is the Corylus avellana of Linnaeus, 

 a well-known British hedge plant, of which there are 

 several varieties, as the filbert, cob-nut, &c. 



NUT WEEVIL. The larva of this insect is the 

 grub which is found in nuts. See BALANINUS. 



NYCTAGINE^E. A natural order of plants com- 

 prising seven genera and forty-seven species. Mira- 

 bilis, the marvel of Peru, with Abronia, and the other 

 associated genera, are herbaceous, shrubby, or arbores- 

 cent plants, with occasionally tuberous under-ground 

 stems and knotted stalks. Their leaves are exstipulate, 

 opposite, rarely alternate, and almost always unequal. 

 The inflorescence is axillary or terminal, the flowers 

 solitary or aggregate, and surrounded by a calyx-like 

 involucrum of one or more leaves, one or more 

 flowered, and persistent. The perianth is single, 

 corollaceous, monophyllous, and tubular ; the tube 

 contracted above the germen, and persistent ; the 

 limb plaited in aestivation, twisted to the left, and 

 deciduous ; the stamens are free, and exserted from 

 an annular disk ; the filaments are attached to the 

 tube of the perianth ; the anthers are two-celled and 

 burst lengthways ; the germen is superior and free ; 



i the style is single and terminal ; and the stigma capi- 

 tate. * The fruit is a thin membranaceous utricle, one 



I seeded, and included within the indurated tube of the 



i perianth. 



