AND NUTHATCH. 267 



motions, though aided by the wings, have more the 

 appearance of running than of any thing else) appears 

 to be of little consequence. Upwards or downwards 

 upon the bole of the tree, outwards or inwards upon 

 the branches, with the back or the belly uppermost, 

 appear to be all the same to it ; but, from the celerity 

 of its motion, and its diminutive size, it is not easily 

 seen. The nuthatch, of whose foot a figure is an- 

 nexed, is the only other species resident in Britain, 

 though the hoopoe, which is a very handsome bird, 

 with feet nearly of the same character, appears not 

 unfrequently as a summer visitant. 



Nuthatch. 



The hoopoe differs, however, in many of its habits, 

 for it is more of a water bird than a frequenter of 

 trees, and its bill is incapable of performing labours so 

 severe as those of the nuthatch, or even of the creeper; 

 for though the last is an insectivorous bird, and not 

 able to hew the shells of nuts to pieces like the 

 nuthatch, it has to dig its food out of the crevices of 

 trees. 



The different substances upon which birds with feet 

 of this structure feed, is strong evidence against the 

 classification of them by the form of the bill ; because, 

 if such a classification is to mean any thing, it should 

 mean similarity both of food and of manner of feed- 

 ing. But though most, if not all, of the birds which 



