368 INSESSORES. NUCIFRAGA. NUTCRACKER. 



NUTCRACKER. 



NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES, JBriss. 

 PLATE XXXIII . 



Nucifraga Caryocatactes, Sriss. 2. p. 59. t. 5. f. 6 Temm, Man. d'Ornith. 



1. p. 117. 

 Corvus Caryocatactes, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 157. 10 Fau. Suec. No. 91 



Gmel Syst I. p. 270 Lath. Ind. Ornith. 1. p. 164. t. 39 Raii Syn. 



p. 42. 5 Will. p. 90. t. 20. 



Caryocatactes Nucifraga, Nils. Orn. Suec. v. 1. p. 90. sp. 42. 

 Le Casse noix, Buff. Ois. v. 3. p. 122. t. 9. Id. PL Enl. 50. 

 Nussrabe, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. v. 1. p. 103. 

 Nutcracker, Br. Zool. Append, t. 1 Arct. ZooL 2. 252. D Will. (Ang.) 



p. K-2. t. 50 Lewirfs Br. Birds, t. 49 Lath. Syn. 1. p. 400. 38 Id. 



Supp. p. 82 Mont. Ornith. Diet Id. Supp Bewick's Br. Birds 



Wale. Syn. 1. t. 38. Don, Br. Birds, 4. t. 80. 

 Nutcracking Crow, Shaw's Zool. v. 7- p. 353. 



Rare visi- THE Nutcracker is a very rare visitant in Great Britain. 

 Not more than three or four instances are upon record of its 

 having been observed in this country. To these I may add 

 another, as this bird was seen in Netherwitton Wood, in the 

 county of Northumberland, in the autumn of 1819, by my 

 coadjutor in the delineations for this work, Captain ROBERT 

 MITFORD of the Royal Navy. 



According to the accounts given of this species by orni- 

 thologists who have had the opportunity of attending to its 

 habits, it approaches, in many points, very closely to some of 

 the genus Picus, particularly to those of foreign locality. 

 Like them, it ascends the trunks of trees with facility, feed- 

 Food, ing on the various insects and larva? that inhabit the bark 

 and wood, which its long straight bill aptly enables it to 

 reach, performing a similar office to the long extensile tongue 

 of the Woodpecker. It feeds also upon the seeds of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of fir *, and upon nuts, which, like the Nut- 



* My brother, during an excursion in Switzerland, September 1825, 

 met with a large flock of Nutcrackers, in a forest mostly composed of 

 pinasters and stone pines. These birds were all busily engaged, feeding 

 upon the seeds contained in the cones. They were not wild, but allowed 

 of a near approach. 



