46 THE NUTHATCH 



produce will prove exceedingly small. I have seen trees bearing 

 a fine crop of husks but nearly all empty. The proprietor had 

 suffered them to remain till they were ripe, the Nuthatches had 

 taken a different view of the case and preferred them unripe rather 

 than not at all. But what, it may be asked, can a bird little larger 

 than a Sparrow find to do with a filbert, or even a hazel-nut ? 

 Here we have a fresh distinctive feature in the biography of the 

 Nuthatch. The bird carries off its prey in its beak, and when 

 in want of a meal wedges the nut in the crevice of some rough- 

 barked tree, such as an oak, an elm, or a walnut. This done, he 

 takes his stand, head downwards, above the nut, throws back 

 his head to gather force for a blow, and then brings it violently 

 forwards many times in rapid succession, aided, too, by the weight of 

 his body and a clapping of the wings in exact time with each stroke. 

 By dint of repeated blows thus dealt by his strong beak, even the 

 hard shell of a filbert at last gives way ; a small hole is the result, 

 which is soon enlarged, and the kernel becomes the hardly-earned 

 prize. Any one who will take the trouble to examine the trunks 

 of old oaks and elms will be sure to find shells still remaining 

 wedged into the bark, and if during a ramble in the woods in 

 autumn or winter, or even in early spring, he should happen to 

 hear a smart tapping, let him follow the direction of the sound, 

 and he will stand a fair chance of discovering the clever little nut- 

 cracker at work. If in the course of his operations the bird happens 

 to dislodge a nut, so nimble is he that before it reaches the ground 

 he will have caught it in his beak. Acorns and the nuts of yew- 

 berries, and probably other hard seeds, are similarly treated by 

 the Nuthatch ; cherrystones, I suspect, are beyond his powers, 

 yielding only to the massive beak of the Hawfinch. The Nuthatch 

 may easily be induced to visit gardens by wedging hazel or Spanish 

 nuts into the bark of trees ; a walnut fastened on by a pin is equally 

 effectual. But no more enticing bait can be set than a lump of 

 fat meat, which should be tied tightly by a string to the horizontal 

 branch of an apple-tree or any other tree, a good view of which can 

 be commanded from the house. If the weather be severe and the 

 ground covered with snow, it is surprising what a variety of birds 

 will come to partake of the unknown food. Robins, Sparrows, 

 Tits of several kinds, Chaffinches, and others flock for a share, not 

 without sundry bickerings, alarms, and semblances of fighting. 

 But should a Nuthatch happen to appear, all retire until his high- 

 ness is satisfied. He enters upon the scene in a way of his own. 

 Other birds alight on a bough or twig at some little distance from the 

 banquet and make gradual advances Not so the Nuthatch ; 

 he darts forward in a horizontal line, as if propelled by a missile, 

 sticks by his claws to whatever part of the branch he happens to 

 touch, not caring in what attitude he alights, stops for a second as 

 if to assure himself in wh?t direction his head is pointing, creeps 



