The Nuthatch. 179 





with a saliva-like fluid, so that it hardens to withstand 

 rain and sun. When roosting, they sleep, like the tits, 

 with the head and back downwards. The strong tap- 

 tap is the sound of his bill against a nut which he has 

 placed in exact position, wedgelike, in some crevice in 

 the tree. Swinging in a branch, with head downwards, 

 he dashes against it with full force of bill, body, and 

 wing, and soon breaks it to find his well-won prize. 

 And yet he is by comparison a very little fellow, only 

 about six inches in length, white throated, blue on 

 back and head, and bright orange-brown on sides and 

 thighs ; pretty, smart, active, always cheerful, and he 

 who does much to make the winter woodland gay 

 wherever there are nut-bearing trees. Hazel and beech- 

 nuts he particularly affects, but he will have recourse 

 to acorns sometimes if there is any scarcity in these. 



And what is that which now passes over the white 

 like a cloud, disturbing our reflections ? It is the owl 

 that, now the snow no longer falls, is out to see if no 

 little mice, or other small deer, are stirring to get a 

 meal once more, that he may make a meal of them. 

 Soft, soft, and silky-downy is his flight; he consorts 

 well with the great, silence-giving ermine cloak in which 

 everything is wrapped. Mister Owl does sometimes, 

 in these circumstances, take a look out through the 

 day, when the light is not strong, and when his prey 

 is very scarce from such causes as this, though when 

 once the mice and birds begin to stir, he has the ad- 

 vantage of seeing them clear against the white ground. 

 The fir-cones not yet fallen slightly wave, though there 

 is no perceptible wind, and as we walk in the snow, 

 the weight of the foot now and then makes the opened 

 cones, fallen below, crackle as we walk, with much sur- 

 prise at first. Never did we witness a scene more 



