200 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Attention <>! the female to her eggs. 



considerable distance. Dr. Plott informs us that 

 this bird, by putting its bill into a crack in the 

 bough of a tree, sometimes makes a violent 

 sound as if the branch was rending asunder. 

 Besides nuts, it feeds also on caterpillars, beetles, 

 and various other insects. This bird has a con- 

 siderable alliance to the woodpecker. 



The female deposits her eggs, six or seven in 

 number, in some hole of a tree, frequently in 

 one that has been deserted by the woodpecker, 

 on rotten wood mixed with moss. If the en- 

 trance be too large, she nicely stops up part of it 

 with clay, leaving only a small hole for herself to 

 pass in and out. While the hen is sitting, if a 

 stick be put into the hole she hisses like a snake; 

 and she is so much attached to her eggs, that she 

 will sooner suffer any one to pluck off her fea- 

 thers than fly away. During the time of incu- 

 bation, $\e is assiduously attended by the male, 

 who supplies her with food. If the barrier of 

 plaster at the entrance of the hole be destroyed 

 while these birds have eggs, it is speedily re- 

 placed ; a peculiar instinct, to prevent their nest 

 from being destroyed by the woodpecker and 

 other birds of superior size and strength, which 

 build in similar situations. 



The nut-hatch does not migrate, but in winter 

 approaches nearer inhabited places, and is some- 

 times seen in orchards and gardens. It is sup- 

 posed not to sleep perched (like birds in general) 

 on a twig ; for it has been observed, that when 



