1498 Birds. 



will be seen that the above description differs much from that of Bewick, although it 

 resembles those of Yarrell, Selby, and Hewitson. I have also seen another nest, 

 which was very like the one here described, and was similarly situated on a spruce fir ; 

 it was taken this summer in the neighbourhood. On the 24th of June I had a young 

 one, which could hardly fly, and was knocked down with a stick, brought to me, and 

 as no author that I can find has described the nestling plumage, I venture to do so 

 here : — Beak pale brown ; upper mandible rather the darkest; head and nape dirty 

 white, each feather having a dark centre ; back and tail-coverts dark brown, each fea- 

 ther margined with sienna ; neck, breast, and flanks dirty white, each feather tipped 

 with dark brown, a tinge of sienna pervading the former ; belly, thighs, and under tail- 

 coverts silvery white, the latter with a dark stripe on each feather ; first ten of the 

 eighteen quill-feathers (wing) grayish black, the remainder the same, but with a 

 broadish buff outer edge ; tail-quills the same as these last ; first and second wing-co- 

 verts dark brown with buff tips, forming two conspicuous bars across the wing ; inside 

 of the bastard wing tinged with sienna ; tarsus and toes pale brown ; claws black. 

 Last summer a pair of these birds haunted this house, and the female used often 

 to come and sit upon a cage, which stood at the open window, containing a pair of 

 these pretty little linnets, who seemed always much pleased with their visitor. Several 

 other birds of this species were often seen about in the neighbourhood at Thetford, 

 Barham, Calford, &c. Elclen is, I believe, nearly in the same latitude as Rugby, 

 which has been considered the most southern limit of this bird's habitat in summer. — 

 Alfred Newton ; Elden, June 29th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the White-winged Crossbill near Thetford.— Four or five of these 

 birds were observed on some fir-trees near Thetford, in Norfolk, on the 10th of May 

 last ; one of which was shot, and came into the possession of Mr. Robert Reynolds, 

 bird-fancier, of Thetford. About a week before this, Mr. Reynolds purchased a speci- 

 men of a bird-stuffer at Bury St. Edmund's, which had but just beeil set up, 

 and was obtained in that neighbourhood. — C. B. Hunter ; Downham, Norfolk, 

 August 23rd, 1846. 



Remarks on the Nuthatch. — A discussion respecting the food and habits of the nut- 

 hatch has lately been carried on through the medium of that useful journal, called the 

 1 Gardener's Chronicle,' in rather too angry a tone, and as I do not wish to be involved 

 in a controversy upon the subject, I prefer recording in the pages of the ' Zoologist ' 

 the few facts relating to that bird, which I have to communicate. That it feeds upon 

 nuts there cannot, I should imagine, remain in the mind of any accurate observer of 

 Nature even the shadow of doubt, but if any further confirmation of the fact be 

 wanted, I beg to state, that I have often been an eye-witness of its successful persever- 

 ance in cracking the shell by repeated strokes of the beak, and of its subsequent indul- 

 gence in devouring the well-earned prize of the kernel. The first of these operations 

 it performs in a manner very different from the oxeye tit (Parus major), which I have 

 often detected in similar occupations, for the nuthatch not only pecks it with the beak 

 as the latter bird does, but brings the whole of its body into action by expanding its 

 wings at every stroke. Doubtless, the beak appears almost too tender to be so em- 

 ployed, but we know that drops of water by falling on the same place will wear a hole 

 in the hardest stone; thus, repeated blows of this apparently feeble instrument upon 

 the same part of the nut-shell will speedily produce the desired effect. Nuts, however, 

 are not the only article of food to which the nuthatch has recourse. It devours insects 

 in abundance, and I have lately had a proof of its partiality to fruit also. On the 15th 



