454 



4 



near Toula. In the months of September and October it is tolerably numerous in Central 

 Russia. In the northern portion of the Government of Perm it is one of the commonest species, 

 and is sedentary there. It is always found on the low branches, and feeds on caterpillars, larvse, 

 and the seeds of conifers. In the north-east it also feeds on the seeds of the cedar, and occa- 

 sionally destroys eggs and young birds. Mr. Taczanowski confirms what Mr. Sabanaeff tells me 

 respecting its abundance in the Government of Perm, and adds that it abounds in the Solikamsk, 

 Shadrinsk, and Verhotursk districts, but is rare in Ural, southward of Ekaterinburg, though 

 common on the western slope and in the woods in the Ufim district. Mr. Taczanowski also 

 writes to me respecting its occurrence in Poland as follows : — " The Nutcracker comes to Poland 

 during the autumn migration, but not every year, and in veiy unequal numbers. It is, however, 

 but seldom seen in great quantities. During the whole time I have studied ornithology I have 

 never found it abundant. Since 1844 numerous bands were then met with during the autumn, 

 migrating in the same manner as Jackdaws and Jays, flying dispersed, not at a great altitude, in 

 the same direction. All the forests were full of them. They merely pass through our country, 

 not remaining during the winter. Professor Kessler, after having said that the Nutcrackers are 

 seen every year during migration in greater or smaller numbers in the month of September and 

 in the first half of October (old style), continues as follows : — A remarkable exception occurred 

 in 1844 during the autumn preceding a very snowy winter: that winter the Nutcracker appeared 

 in the district of Kieff on the 13th of August (old style), and in about three weeks from then all 

 the forests, groves, and gardens were full of them ; but soon after they disappeared by degrees. 

 According to Nordmann they were also seen near Odessa, which is an unusual circumstance. 

 Since that time they have been observed in numbers in Poland on only two or three occasions. 

 Since I have taken up ornithology as a study I have but once seen and killed an individual in 

 the summer. This occurred in the month of June ; and the bird was moulting, which I did not 

 think could be natural, as it was not the usual moulting-season. Count Wodzicki states that the 

 Nutcrackers breed in the mountains of Galicia." 



The Patter von Tschusi Schmidhofen gives (in a pamphlet lately published) so careful a 

 resume of all the available information as to its range in Germany, that I cannot do better than 

 translate his remarks in extenso, as follows : — " In the northern portions it appears in large flocks 

 at irregular intervals, but breeds in many portions in the south. Zander says that it is at times 

 numerous in Mecklenburg in October and November, as in 1836 and 1844; whereas in 1853 

 and 1859 it was rare, and other years it does not occur at all. In 1864, according to Cordes- 

 Tetrovv, it was common throughout Mecklenburg, and numbers were caught in snares, all of 

 which had short thick bills. Mr. E. von Homeyer says that it seldom visits Pomerania, but 

 when it appears it is in large numbers, as in October 1832 and October and November 1836 ; 

 in 1844 large numbers appeared, and a few remained until the summer of 1845. Hintz watched 

 a pair which frequented the Vangaroe district, near Schlosskampen, throughout the summer of 

 1853, but did not succeed in finding the nest. In the autumn of 1859 it was again numerous, 

 and, the winter being mild, several remained ; and Hintz was told that a pair nested in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Biitower, and two eggs were taken out of their nest ; later on the bird was shot 

 near the nest. In the autumn and winter of 1864-65 numbers again appeared at Quistorp and 

 Manow, and nine were snared in September. In Eastern Prussia the forester Wiese found it 



