THE HAZEL. 



245 



which is not matured : this he either avoids altogether, 

 or commences nibbling, but finding, probably from the 

 hollow sound emitted, that his labours will not be re- 

 warded, he deserts it before he has pierced through the 

 shell. This power of detecting a worthless nut appears 

 to be gained by experience ; for we sometimes, though 

 very rarely, find a hollow nut the shell of which has been 

 perforated. 



The nuthatch displays no less ingenuity than the 

 squirrel in procuring a meal from the Hazel-tree. It has 

 a strong and powerful beak, but having no means of 

 holding its food, like the squirrel, while at work on the 

 shell, it gathers the nut by the stem, and carries it away 

 in its mouth to some rough-barked tree, generally an Oak, 

 strips off the husk, and fixes the nut in an angular crack 

 in the bark, always selecting, as far as I have observed, a 



