NUTHATCH. 187 



were now eaten on the spot ; occasionally, when a large 

 piece was got, the birds flew away with it to some tall 

 trees close by, but very soon returned for more. Their 

 absence on these occasions was very short, certainly not 

 long enough to lead me to suppose they had time to eat 

 the nut ; I concluded it was either added to a store already 

 existing, or deposited on the tall trees. Fragments of nuts 

 were sometimes driven from four to six feet from the tree 

 by the violence of the blows applied ; they were almost 

 invariably caught by the bird before they reached the 

 ground, and, without one single exception, in the bill. 

 The feet were never used for that purpose. Latterly these 

 birds became so tame as to sit within two feet or so of my 

 head, while I was preparing their feast ; and if I threw a 

 nut into the air to them, they would fly after and catch it. 

 They took dozens in this way." 



The Nuthatch is found in most of the wooded parts of 

 England. Near London it may be frequently seen in Ken- 

 sington Gardens ; and I may here observe that I am in- 

 debted to Mr. Henry Churton, of Oxford Street, for most 

 of the notes I have used referring to Kensington Gardens 

 as a locality. From London westward this bird, though 

 not observed in Cornwall by Montagu, is found as far as 

 Liskeard, and the wooded eastern parts of that country, 

 according to Mr. Couch and Mr. Eodd ; but is rare in the 

 extreme western part. Mr. Eyton includes the Nuthatch 

 in his Catalogue of the Birds of Shropshire and North 

 Wales ; but it does not appear to have been taken in 

 Ireland. In the midland counties of England it is well 

 known, and on the east coast is found in Suffolk, Norfolk, 

 Lincolnshire, and occasionally in Yorkshire. Mr. Selby 

 has traced it as far north as the banks of the Wear and 

 the Tyne. The authority for considering the Nuthatch as 



