558 AVES—NUTHATCH. 
thumping like carpenters. They carry in no materials for their nest. Their 
food varies with the season. As the common cherries, wild cherries, and 
berries of the sour gum ripen, he regales plentifully on them ; but his chief 
food is wood-lice and the young and larve of ants. He is very fond of corn, 
and visits the farmer’s grounds too frequently to remain unpunished, as the 
farmer destroys him on every opportunity. 
This bird has the back and wings of a burnt umber, marked with streaks 
of black; the breast is ornamented with a broad crescent of deep black ; the 
belly is light yellow, spotted with innumerable round spots of black; the 
inner side of the wings and tail are of a beautiful golden yellow. They 
inhabit America from Hudson’s Bay to Georgia, and have been found on the 
North-West coast. They arrive at Hudson’s Bay in the spring. 
ORDER VI.—ANISODACTYLI. 
Birps of this order have the bill more or less arched, often straight, always 
subulate and slender; feet with three toes before and one behind, the exte- 
rior united at the base to that in the middle, the hinder one generally long, 
and all provided with long and bent claws. 2 
THE NUTHATCH! 
WEIcus near an ounce, and is five inches and three quarters in length. The 
bill is strong and straight, and three fourths of an inch long. The upper 
part of the plumage is of a fine bluish gray; a black stroke runs from the 
mouth to the eye. The cheeks are white, and the breast and belly of adult 
' orange color. This bird runs up and down the bodies of trees like the wood- 
pecker. It feeds on insects and nuts, which it stores in the hollow parts of 
the tree. It isa pretty sight, says Willoughby, to see her fetch a nut out 
1 Sitta Europea, Lix. The genus Sitta has the bill straight, cylindrical, slightly com- 
pressed, tip acuminated, nostrils basal, rounded, partly concealed by reflected bristles : 
tongue short, horny ; three-toes before, the exterior joined at its base to the middle one; 
hind toe very long, with a long hooked claw ; tail composed of twelve feathers. 
