NUTHATCHES {Sitta casia) FEEDING YOUNG 



The dominance of Birds in the vertebrate fauna of the world is 

 largely due to their strongly developed parental instincts, by which 

 the safety of eggs and young are secured. Such care is essential 

 in cases where the nesthngs are helpless, as in Perching Birds 

 {Passe7-es), of which the Nuthatch is here taken as an illustration. 

 This species is essentially a tree-form, and feeds upon insects 

 during the greater part of the year, but when nuts, beech-mast, 

 &c., are ripe, these constitute the chief article of diet. A nut is 

 opened by being placed in a suitable crevice, and then cleft by the 

 strong pointed beak. For nesting purposes a cavity in a trunk or 

 branch is selected, and the opening plastered up with clay, leaving 

 only a small round hole by way of door. The eggs are laid upon 

 a heap of leaves or bark-scales within this cavity, and the parental 

 duties of the old birds terminate soon after the young are fledged. 



