THE COMMON NUTHATCH. 151 



little bird is seen collecting its stores of nuts and 

 grains, such as hemp-seed, &c. and secreting them 

 in the garners nature has provided for them in 

 the midst of the woods. Nothing is more re- 

 markable in the habits of this clever and active 

 little creature, than the manner in which it gets 

 at the kernel of the nut. Having placed a nut 

 firmly in the crack of a tree, he takes his station 

 a little above it, and striking it with all his force, 

 pierces the shell and takes out the kernel. If 

 he happens to be disturbed at his work, he re- 

 moves the nut instantly, and flies away with it. 



A touching anecdote of this bird is related by 

 a writer in the Magazine of Natural History. 

 Having slightly wounded a nuthatch, he suc- 

 ceeded in capturing it, and carried it home, with 

 the hope of watching its habits more closely. 

 The poor bird, however, could ill brook his cap- 

 tivity, and at the end of two days died ; having 

 kept up, during that time, an almost incessant 

 and laborious tapping at the wood-work of his 

 cage, which bears lasting marks of the energy 

 with which he toiled to force his way to freedom. 

 Some of those who watched the untiring efforts 

 of the little prisoner, observed that he was nail- 

 ing his own coffin, and so it seemed : his labours 

 ceased but with his life. For the details of the 

 anecdote, we refer our readers to the Magazine 



