NUTCRACKER. 129 



many appeared in the southern part of Sweden, and my 

 friend Mr. Dann, now residing in that country, whose com- 

 munications in ornithology I have so frequently had the 

 advantage of acknowledging, told me when he was in Lon- 

 don last winter that these birds appeared on his grounds in 

 small parties of six or seven together, like families, and as 

 he watched them, he observed that they were very busy 

 turning over and picking off the moss and lichens attached 

 to the rocks for the sake of the insects they found under- 

 neath. A few specimens of the Nutcracker visited this 

 country. One was killed at Rollesby near Yarmouth, on 

 the 30th of October, and is now in the possession of J. H. 

 Gurney, Esq., of Norwich, as recorded in the Zoologist by 

 W. E. Fisher, Esq. The stomach contained nothing but 

 coleopterous insects. Another was killed in September 

 last, while flying over a field of turnips, at Littlington 

 near Alfristone, in Sussex, and is now in the collection of 

 Mr. Wm. Borrer, jun. The Zoological Society have, for 

 some months past, had a Nutcracker alive in the aviary. 

 Contrary to the power proclaimed by the name, this bird 

 cannot crack nuts ; when cracked for him he eats the 

 kernels greedily, but is fed principally with hemp seed. 

 Some of the actions of this bird resemble those of the Nut- 

 hatch, and he demolishes the woodwork of his cage like a 

 Woodpecker. So far back as 1831, M. Brehm had in- 

 cluded in his Manual of the Birds of Germany, two species 

 of Nutcracker, characterised principally by the difference 

 observed in the length and strength of the beak, and 

 named in reference to these peculiarities. The examination 

 of several examples in the autumn of 1844, has induced 

 M. Edm. de Selys-Lonchamps of Belgium to adopt the 

 opinion of M. Brehm. Among our British examples both 

 these modifications of the beak occur, but some specimens 



VOL. II. K 



