NUTCRACKER. 583 



NUCIFRAGA CARYOCATACTES. 

 NUTCRACKER. 



(Plate 16.) 



Nucifraga uucifraga, Brixs. Oni. ii. p. 59 (1700). 



Oorvus caryocatactes, Linn. >Si/sf. Nat. i. p. 157 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimo- 



rum — {Toninineh), (jVatuna/tn), ((J(nild), {Gray), {Salvadori), {Dresser), 



( S/iarpe), ( Newton), &c. 

 Nucifraga guttata, Vicill. N. Diet, d' Hist. Nat. v. p. 354 (1816). 

 Caryocatactes maculatus, Koch, Si/st. Inicr. Zool. i. p. 93 (1816). 

 Nucifraga caryocatactes {Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. lVc. Brit. Mus. p. 18 (1816). 

 Caryocatactes nucifraga, Nilss. Orn. Succ. i. p. 90 (1817). 

 Caryocatactes guttatus {Vicill.), Nilss. Skand. Faun. i. p. 149 (18.35). 

 Caryocatactes caryocatactes {Linn.), Schl. Rev. Crit. i. p. Iv (1844). 



The Nutcracker lias very little claim to be considered a British bird ; 

 but as nearly a score examples have been seen or obtained in various parts 

 of England and Scotland^ it may be looked upon as an irregular straggler 

 to our islands during the autumn migration. The Nutcracker is essen- 

 tially a forest bird; and is found in all suitable localities throughout the 

 Palsearctic Region, but very rarely breeding north of the Arctic circle. In 

 Norway it has not been recorded north of lat. QiP ; but in Sweden it has 

 been observed as far north as lat. 67°. Harvie-Brown and I did not find 

 it in the Petchora ; but Dr. Hoffmann observed it in lat. 62° near the 

 sources of that river. In the valley of the Yenesay I found it between lat. 

 64° and 67° ; Dybowsky mentions its abundance near Lake Baikal ; Midden- 

 dorff found it as far east as the Stanavoi Mountains, north of the sea of 

 Ochotsk, about lat. G4° ; and Schrenck and Radde found it common in the 

 valley of the Amoor. In Europe it breeds in the pine-forests of South 

 Norway and Sweden, on some of the islands in the Baltic, and probably also 

 in the mountains of Southern Spain and Sardinia. It certainly breeds in the 

 Black Forest, in the Alps, and the Carpathians, and probably also on all the 

 mountains of Central Asia. The Nutcracker appears everywhere to be a 

 resident ; but in autumn the birds gather together in large flocks, which 

 frequently wander very far from home, especially during winter, when 

 they irregularly appear in various parts of Europe, Japan, and North 

 China. 



In Cashmere the Nutcracker is represented by a very nearly allied 

 species, Nucifraga multipunctata, differing only in being considerably larger 

 in size, and in having the white on each feather much more developed and 

 the brown much darker. To the south-east, in the Himalayas, where the 

 climate is more tropical and the rainfall much greater, our bird is replaced 

 by N. hemispUa. This is as large a bird as the preceding ; but the change 



