68 NUTHATCH. - TREE-CREEPER. 



in hammering nuts to pieces, which it first adroitly 

 fixes in a crevice of the bark, and when the shell is 

 broken, eats the kernel. Should the nut accidentally 

 fall, it will dart down, and, in most cases, catch it 

 with its claws before it reaches the ground, and 

 replacing it in its chink, resume its work. One, 

 slightly wounded, and caught, was put in a cage, 

 when, without loss of time, it began battering the 

 wood- work, just as it would have done a nut-shell, 

 and persevered till it died, more of fatigue than 

 hunger, for they are bold birds, and feed readily. 

 In America, it is said that they can be tamed, 

 and will creep up and down their owner's body, 

 poking their bills into seams and button-holes, just 

 as they do on trees in their wild state. 



The Certhia, or Tree-Creeper, like the Nuthatch, 

 glides up and down the stems of trees, but so far 

 from having a bill strong enough to crack a nut, 

 it is so feeble that the shell of a beetle's wing would 

 resist its powers but it is admirably adapted for its 

 mode of life. The little Tree-Creeper looks more 

 like a mouse than a bird, as it runs in silence up 

 and down a bough in search of minute insects; and 

 so beneficial has it been found in ridding trees of 

 noxious insects, that in America, where it seems 

 to be more abundant than with us, a box is placed 

 at the top of a long pole, to entice it to build 

 in gardens, where it makes itself a very welcome 



The Bee-Eaters are so rarely seen in England, as 

 scarcely to be considered as British birds, but when 

 once seen can never be mistaken, or forgotten, bril- 

 liant as they are with blue and green of various 



