THE NUTHATCH. 229 



THE NUTHATCH (Sitta 



The nuthatch, like the wryneck, is confined to the southern 

 parts of England, but it is a resident bird ; and as like the 

 creeper, it visits trees in the garden, and even close to the 

 house, it is as interesting to see, as it is easy to be seen. 



It is about three times as heavy as the creeper, but only an 

 inch longer, and the wings, and especially the tail, are shorter 

 in proportion. It is a stronger looking bird than the creeper ; 

 has a good deal of the shape, and also the beak of the wood- 

 peckers ; but the tail feathers are short and flexible. 



The colours are, the upper mandible and whole upper side 

 of the bird bluish grey, the base of the lower mandible and 

 the throat white, breast and belly pale buff orange, sides and 

 thighs brown orange, and vent and under tail-coverts reddish 

 brown ; quills blackish grey ; two middle tail feathers grey ; 

 the others black with a white spot and ash-grey tips. A 

 black streak from the eye across the ear-covert to the neck. 

 The feet strong, and the hind toe and claw very much pro- 

 duced. 



During winter, the nuthatch, like the green wood-pecker, 

 feeds at least partly upon vegetables. Nuts, it fixes in chinks, 

 and hews the shell to pieces by its bill ; and it seems to know 

 at what places the shell is most easily broken, for it will turn 

 the nut round after it has tried and failed. In ordinary cases 

 the stroke is given after the manner of that of the wood- 

 pecker, by moving only the neck ; but as the nuthatch does 

 not require the wood-pecker's stiff position of the body and 

 tail in order to keep its perch, it can, in the case of a very 

 stubborn shell, swing on the feet, and give the blow all the 

 advantage of the weight of its body. It sometimes plunders 

 the hoards of mice and other small grain-eating quadrupeds ; 

 and the evidence, though not absolutely conclusive, is rather 

 in favour of its hoarding. 



