126 CORVIDJ3. 



square at the end. Tarsus longer than the middle toe ; toes three before, one 

 behind, the two outer toes on each side united at the base. 



THE NUTCRACKER CROW, as it is sometimes called, has 

 been separated from the true Crows by most modern syste- 

 matic authors. Though allied to the Crows in several par- 

 ticulars, this bird exhibits also some of the habits of the 

 Woodpeckers, and in systematic arrangement has therefore 

 been judiciously placed between the Crows and the Wood- 

 peckers, as a connecting link indicating by its modifications 

 the transition from the one to the other. Two species of 

 the genus Nucifraga of Brisson are now known. 



Although the Nutcracker is not uncommon in some parts 

 of Europe, its occurrence in this country is so rare that it 

 may be useful to enumerate such as have been recorded. 

 Pennant, in the edition of his British Zoology, published in 

 1766, says of the Nutcracker, vol. ii. p. 265, that the spe- 

 cimen he took his description from was the only one he 

 ever heard of that was shot in these kingdoms. It was 

 killed near Mostyn in Flintshire, October 5th, 1753. 



Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, besides refer- 

 ring to the specimen killed in Flintshire, mentions another 

 that was killed in Kent. In the Supplement to his Dic- 

 tionary, under the article Nutcracker, he says, " Mr. 

 Anstice assures us he saw one of this rare species near 

 Bridgewater, upon a Scotch fir, in the autumn of 1805. 

 This accurate observer of nature could not be deceived, as 

 he examined the bird, and attended to its actions for some 

 time with the aid of a pocket telescope, which he usually 

 carried with him for similar purposes. In August 1808, 

 one of these birds was shot in the north of Devon, now in 

 the collection of Mr. Comyns. Another is stated in the 

 Monthly Magazine for December 1808, to have been shot 

 in Cornwall." 



