434 Birds. 



with its strong claws, which are two before and two behind, like the 

 cuckoo's, and, biting your finger sharply, is very obstinate in retain- 

 ing its hold, and w r ill remain suspended to it without attempting to 

 escape. 



They keep mostly in trees : I have now and then, but very rarely, 

 seen them on the ground. The female makes no nest, but deposits 

 her eggs in the hole of a tree upon the dust of the rotten wood. She 

 generally lays from seven to ten white eggs, which when fresh laid ap- 

 pear transparent, and the yolk may be seen through the shell. I have 

 never met with the slightest portion of a nest, nor have I found the 

 eggs in any other situation than in the hole of a tree which is gene- 

 rally decayed. 



The young are hatched in about a fortnight, and remain in the tree 

 until they are nearly as well feathered as the old ones, I have had nine 

 young ones out of the hole of a tree and well feathered, the latter end 

 of June. The plumage of the nestlings is much the same in its mark- 

 ings as in the adult bird, with the exception of its being a little lighter 

 in its colour. 



On the 29th of July, 1841, 1 was out on a bird's-nesting excursion, 

 and in crossing the fields near Peckham, I struck a stick which I had 

 in my hand smartly against an old willow-tree by a ditch-side, and im- 

 mediately heard a faint hissing sound. At first I could not make out 

 from whence it proceeded : I struck the tree again, and listened to it, 

 when I found the sound proceed from the interior. It instantly oc- 

 curred to me that there was a tom-tit's nest, or some young snake- 

 birds in the tree. About six or seven feet from the ground there was 

 a hole, and on putting my hand and arm down it I could not reach the 

 bottom, but still I could now and then hear the hissing noise. As 

 the tree was much decayed, I had but little trouble in pulling out the 

 rotten wood until I came to the birds, which were four naked little 

 squabs. I supposed them to be wrynecks from there being no nest ; 

 and such they proved to be. The young ones lay huddled together 

 warm enough on the dust of the rotten wood. When I alarmed them 

 by striking the tree, they would all cock up their heads and utter the 

 hissing noise I had heard before. They did not open their mouths 

 at the time of making this noise, but I found by making a slight rust- 

 ling noise similar to what I suppose the parent bird might make on 

 entering the hole, that they would open their mouths for food : it 

 therefore appears that they only hiss when they are alarmed. As I 

 had a wish to sec the old bird, I fixed the pieces of rotten wood in 

 the hole as well as I could, and let them remain about half an hour ; 



