NUTHATCH. INSESSORES. SITTA. 385 



NUTHATCH. 



SITTA EUROPMA, Linn. 

 PLATE XXXIX. FIG. 1. 



Sitta europaea, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 177 Fauna Suec. No. 104. Gmel. Syst- 



1. p. 440 Lath. Ind/Ornith. v. 1. p. 261. Raii Syn. p. 47. A. 4 Will. 



p. 98. t. 23. 



Sitta caesia, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. v. 1. p. 128. 



La Sitelle, ou Torchepot, Buff. Ois. v. 5. p. 460. t. 20 Id. PL Enl. 623. 



Sitelle Torchepot, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. v. 1. p. 407. 



Kleiber, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. p. 1061 Frisch, Vbg. t. 39. 



Nuthatch, Br. Zool. 1. No. 89. t. 38 Will. (Ang.) p. 142 Lewn's Br. 

 Birds, 2. t. 53 Albin. 2. t. 28. Lath. Syn. 2. p. 648 Id. Supp. p. 117. 

 Mont. Ornith. Diet BewicVs~Br. Birds, v. 1. p. 121 Pult. Cat. Dor- 

 set, p. 5 Don, Br Birds, 4. t. 81. 



THIS is the only European, as well as British species. In 

 England it is confined to certain districts ; and, according to 

 MONTAGU, is not met with in Cornwall. I have not been 

 able also to trace it farther north than the banks of the Wear 

 and Tyne. It is an indigenous bird, and generally frequents 

 wooded and enclosed situations. It runs without greater 

 difficulty both upwards and downwards on the trunks and 

 branches of trees, in which respect it differs from the Wood- 

 peckers, whose ability is limited to an ascending direction. 

 In the Nuthatch, the tail is flexible, and is therefore never 

 used as a support in climbing. It feeds upon the insects and Food, 

 their larvae, that infest the bark of trees, and also upon nuts, 

 and other hard seeds. Its method of arriving at the kernel 

 of hazel-nuts or filberts is curious : having detached the nut 

 from its husk, and afterwards fixed it firmly in a crevice of 

 the bark of some tree, it places itself above it, with its head 

 downwards, and in this position splits the nut by reiterated 

 strokes of its bill. In the autumn, many of these broken nut- 

 shells may be seen in the open bark of old trees, in places 

 where these birds abound, as they return repeatedly to the 

 same spot for this purpose. It breeds in the holes of trees- 

 VOL. i. B b 



