70 NATURAL HISTORY. 



The birds were observed pulling the hay from the stack, till they had formed a large opening, before 

 they commenced building with mud, which they had to carry about one hundred and fifty yards, that 

 being the nearest point where they could obtain it. My informants (two men working on the farm) 

 say that they saw the birds were building for a very long time, quite six weeks or two months, and 

 they could not understand what the birds were plastering a lot of mud on the stack for. 



" ' W. MAY.' 



" To this I may add that the nest cut out of the stack weighed as nearly as possible eleven pounds, 

 and measured thirteen inches in length, by eight inches in its greatest breadth, and four inches in 

 thickness. The lining, which my correspondent mistook for dead leaves, was in reality composed of 

 the scaly inner bark of the fir. There were five eggs, one of which was unfortunately broken. 



" When we consider the comparatively small piece of mud which can be carried in the bill of a 

 Nuthatch, and the great distance from which it had to be brought in this case, the size and weight of 

 the nest are extraordinary." 



In their habits the Nuthatches bear considerable resemblance to the Creepers, although they do 

 not possess the spiny tail of the latter. The bill, too, instead of being thin and curved, is short 

 and wedge-shaped, and is a formidable little organ when used by the bird for the purpose of prising 

 off the bark in order to get at the insects underneath. Often has it occurred to the writer to 

 stand beneath a tree on which a Nuthatch is engaged at work ; the first indication of its presence 

 being a loud musical note, t'wit, t'wit, t'wit, or the loud and decisive hammering with which the bird 

 prepares to scare the insects which are immediately to become its food. The Tree Creeper flies from 

 tree to tree, invariably commencing at the bottom and working its way towards the top ; not so 

 the Nuthatch, which from the high branches of an adjoining elm will visit a row of trees in succession, 

 beginning at the middle or higher branches, along which it runs with great facility, occasionally 

 descending the trunk head downwards, which is a position never adopted by the Tree Creeper. In 

 the winter it consorts with Titmice of various kinds, and joins them in their excursions through 

 the woods. It is, as a rule, not particularly shy, and will often allow of a close approach when busily 

 engaged in detaching a piece of bark, of which material the bird is able to dislodge with its wedge- 

 shaped bill a portion so large as would scarcely be believed by any one not accpaainted with the habits 

 of the Nuthatch. The distribution of the English bird is interesting, as it is not the same as the white- 

 breasted species of Northern Europe. It inhabits the British Islands and Central and Southern 

 Europe, extending as far eastward as Persia, and even ranging into South-eastern Siberia. In 

 Europe it occurs in the peninsula of Jutland, but is replaced in the other Danish islands by the 

 white-breasted form, which spreads throughout the whole of Northern Europe and Northern Asia to 

 Japan. 



The Common Nuthatch measures about five inches and a half in length. The general colour of the 

 xipper parts is slaty-blue, including the wings and the two centre tail-feathers ; the remainder of the 

 feathers black, grey at the tips, with a sub-terminal spot of white ; a broad black band from the base of 

 the bill running through the eye as far as the nape ; under surface of body pale cinnamon, deeper on 

 the flanks ; the cheeks and throat white ; the under tail-coverts chestnut with white centres ; 

 under wing-coverts blackish ; bill brownish horn colour, with a yelloAV spot at the base ; legs dull 

 brown, iris brown, 



