May, I'JOl.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



101 



THE STRONGHOLD OF THE NUTHATCH. 



A STORY OF SIEGE AND DEFENCE. 



By A. II. Machell Co.x. m.a. 



Picture a sleepy old rectory garden — a very paradise 

 of birds — merging iiito a little rambling spinney, and 

 lyiug so elose beneath its shelter that the gradual, al- 

 most imperceptible transition only serves to enhance 

 the sweet smell of the woodland. Here and there a 

 line old oak breaks the stiffness of surrounding ever- 

 greens. One such tree is so persistantly visited all the 

 year round by a pair of nuthatches as to arouse in- the 

 practised birds-nestor a suspicion which a closer scrutiny 

 proves to be well founded. At a height of rather more 

 than thirty feet from the ground is a hole, clearly 

 enough the socket of a branch long since defunct, and 

 only arresting attention by its unnaturally smooth and 

 rounded appeai-ance. For such an eligible building 

 site as this there must have been at one time applicants 

 in plenty among the various birds that seek a habitation 

 in ready-made cavities, but in thci end our nuthatches 

 evidently obt-ained the premises on a long lease, and for 

 many a year (with one notable exception, to which I 

 shall presently refer) their tenancy has remained un- 

 disputed. Nor is the reason far to seek. Against 

 birds no larger than itself, the sturdily built nuthatch, 

 with its strong foniiidable bill, is perfectly capable of 

 holding its own. while against more determined aggres- 

 sors like starlings it adopts the ingenious precaution of 

 plastering up the entrance to its home with mud, and 

 reducing it to such a size as will exactly meet its own 

 requirements. This is a well-known peculiarity; that 

 it forms an invariable feature of the household arrange- 

 ment cannot indeed be positively asserted, but from all 

 accounts the exceptions to the rule must be very few 

 indeed. Similarly it is recorded that before a nuthatch 

 can be induced to take possession of a nesting box in a 

 garden, its habitual cuteness leads it to detect the 

 lid opening on a hinge, so fatal to privacy, a 

 drawback which it will at once proceed to remedy by 

 a plentiful application of clay. So skilfully is the work 

 done in the first instance, that when the nesting season 

 comes round again, only slight repairs and alterations 

 are required ; but these receive the most scrupulous 

 attention, and even in the depth of winter an occasional 

 inspection is made, and these all important defences 

 overhauled. I do not recollect ever having seen the 

 male nuthatch assist his mate in any of the actual work. 

 but he is invariably somewhere at hand in close attend- 

 ance, and ever reaxly in the spring to serenade her with 

 his cheery long-drawn' \vhistle ; in the winter he is per- 

 haps apt to be self-assertive, but during the time of 

 courtship I have watched him offering, with an air of 

 the greatest gallantry, choice morsels of food to his mis- 

 tress. 



Immunity from danger had, as I have said, been long 

 enjoyed by this particular pair, and it was with some 

 compunction that I yielded at last to my instincts as 

 a birds-nestcr, and resolved to exact the toll that seemed 

 so ready to my hand. Had I indeed anticipated that 

 any disastrous consequences might attend my raid I 

 should certainly have abandoned the idea ; but I argued 

 from what I knew of their general disposition that there 

 would be little likelihood of their homo being deserted 

 for any cause short of deliberate eviction. Accordingly 

 at the time when I calculated that the eggs should 

 have been laid, I secured a ladder (without the aid of 



which the hole was iuacccs-sihlo), and armctl with chisel 

 and haiuiner ascended to cniiiniit the burglary. My 

 intention was to enlarge the entrance sufficiently to 

 enable me to insert a hand and investigate the interior ; 

 but I soon found that I had under-rated the difficulty 

 of such a task. The wood was extraordinarily hard, 

 and the mud defences themselves could hardly have been 

 removed without tools; moreover the distracted owners, 

 taking up positions within a few yards of me, never 

 ceased to protest loudly and vigorously, and altogether 

 showed such keen distress that I was more than once 

 half inclined to desist. When, after two hours' hard 

 work, the nest was brought within reach and proved to 

 be empty, it almost seemed like a judgment on perse- 

 cution. It only remained for me (o do all in my power 

 to repair the damage done, and some wet clay soon 

 en.abled me to reduce the hole to its original dimensions. 

 Hardly had I descended to the ground when a blue tit 

 appeared on the scene, and, perching for a moment 

 on a rung of the ladder poked his head into the hole 

 with characteristic curiosity. A few moments later, to 

 my great satisfaction, I witnessed the return of the right- 

 ful occupants, who without further ado proceeded to 

 complete my amateur work as a plasterer. So ended 

 the first act of the drama; reference to my notebook 

 shows that the date was April 17th. 



For just a week the nest was left undisturbed, and 

 then I made a second investigation. During the respite 

 the rude clay had by some mysterious process, the secret 

 of which the nuthatch seems to share with swallows and 

 house martins, been hardened to the consistency of 

 cement, the whole surface having been so scored all over 

 by countless indentations of their beaks that it pre- 

 sented the appearance of elaborate stucco work. This 

 time it was only the work of a minute to make a breach, 

 and the results though not altogether successful, were 

 on the whole satisfactory. A single egg was discovered 

 in the nest ; this I carefully replaced and a fresh supply 

 of clay was utilized for the needful repairs. Once more 

 the birds returned undaunted. 



Xow a fresh complication arose which quite altered 

 the aspect of affairs. The next morning I was approach- 

 ing the tree quietly to see how things were going on, 

 when I caught sight of a bird, which proved to be a 

 starling, busily pecking away at the entrance to the 

 hole. The fact was that all the starlings in the neigh- 

 bourhood were just then turning their thoughts to the 

 business of nesting, and the sharp eyes of one pair had 

 already discovered that this hitherto impregnable 

 position had been tampered with, and that the clay 

 while still damp and soft presented no insuperable 

 barrier. Possibly they had witnessed the whole pro- 

 ceedings of the previous day and laid their plans 

 accordingly. However that might be, I determined to 

 defeat their object. Fetching my gun I cautiously 

 stationed myself in hiding among the bushes beneath. 

 I had not long to wait. A starling settled noisily on 

 the top branch and was at once joined by another. 

 There they commanded the situation, and their purpose 

 was unmistakable; as I wished, however, to catch 

 them in piqrante. delicto I still awaited developments. 

 Presently first one and then the other nuthatch 

 returned for a moment to the tree, but scenting danger 

 Hew off again uneasily. An interval ensued during which 

 the conspirators (myself included) remained motionless 

 at their several posts, and then the female came back 

 with a large bit of clay in her beak, and after flying 

 round the tree once or twice alighted on the trunk on 



