Nuthatch. 269 



heel, and never uses the tail. When roosting it will sleep with 

 the head and back downwards, after the manner of some of the 

 Titmice.* The nest of the Nuthatch differs from that of any 

 other bird with which I am acquainted ; and it shows very con- 

 siderable ingenuity and masonic skill in constructing it. Often 

 it will make choice of a hole in a tree, but I have found it year 

 after year in a brick wall, where one of the bricks had been left 

 out by the scaffold-maker ; and this large hole it will plaster up 

 with clay and small stones, leaving an orifice only just large 

 enough to admit its entrance and egress ; and this plastering of 

 mud or clay is no mere sham for the purpose of concealment ; 

 but a strong and substantial defence, leaving the cavity within 

 perfectly secure. Then, on removing this wall of plaster, I have 

 found the nest entirely composed of a large quantity of the inner 

 bark of the Scotch fir, and it is astonishing what a very soft and 

 elastic bed this fir-bark makes. I supplied some of this material 

 to the late Mr. Hewitson, when he was engaged in the last 

 edition of his famous book on the ' Eggs of British Birds,' as 

 may therein be seen, and he expressed himself as much pleased 

 with it, as none such had previously come under his notice. 

 Though on more than one occasion I cut away the plaster when 

 the young birds were flown, and took away the nest, the 

 Nuthatches, nothing daunted by such spoliation, returned 

 annually to the same hole, where they generally reared their 

 young brood in safety. In reference to this plastering propensity, 

 one of the names by "which this bird is known in France is Pic- 

 magon (its proper name, however, is Sitelle Torchepot). In 

 Germany its regular name is Kleiber, ' Plasterer,' or ' Mason.' In 

 Italy it is Picchio grigio, ' Gray Woodpecker.' The generic name 

 Sitta is derived from */, 'I hiss/ or 'whistle' (B.O.U.). The 

 name Nuthatch seems to be a corruption of ' Nuthack,' which 

 the habits of the bird sufficiently explain. It is to be found in 

 this country generally wherever woods abound, but seems to 

 prefer large oaks and beeches. Lord Arundel says it is generally 



* Yarrell's ' British Birds,' third edition, vol. ii., p. 186. 



