COMMON NUTHATCH. 57 
his knees; it chirped to the young birds, but no answer 
was heard, nor had he heard them utter any note pre- 
viously. The box and birds were handed over to his sister 
at Henfield, and were placed in a cage under a verandah 
outside her bedroom window. The following morning an 
old Nuthatch was seen feeding the young, and the day after 
two old birds were there: these birds continued to visit the 
cage, sometimes in the verandah, and sometimes in the 
bedroom, for a week or two. The young birds became 
perfectly tame, but some months later the birds came to an 
untimely end. Mr. Harting adds that about three months 
after the young birds had been caged, namely in September, 
he was staying with Mr. Borrer, who related to him the 
above anecdote, and offered to drive him over to see the 
birds; the offer was accepted, and on their arrival at 
Henfield they were informed that the old birds had been 
seen feeding the young a few days previously. After 
examining the young in their cage, which was a large one, 
they seated themselves within view of it, behind a large 
shrub, and about twenty minutes later, on looking out, 
saw an old Nuthatch clinging outside the wires of the 
cage, and thrusting its bill through and towards a young 
one which was clinging to the wires inside and opposite to 
it. A few minutes later a second bird appeared, and 
alighted on the top of the cage and peered down into it in 
different directions. After watching them for some time 
Mr. Harting and his friend stepped forward, when both 
the old birds flew away. They again retreated and waited, 
and the birds returned and behaved as before. Mr. 
Harting concludes as follows :—“ If these birds were really 
the parents of the young, as is rendered probable by the 
incident of the old Nuthatch flying across the dogeart on 
the road, and not, as is possible, the adopted parents, a 
more extraordinary instance of intelligence and natural 
affection in birds I do not remember to have met with.” 
