16 CERTHIAD.E. 



produce more trouble than profit, for he is meddling with 

 everything ; and if he can discover a flaw or crack in any 

 part of the wood-work, he is sure to endeavour to do mischief, 

 and indeed generally succeeds in his intentions. 



The food of the Nuthatch consists of insects and seeds, 

 particularly acorns, nuts, hemp-seed, and sunflower, or in 

 case of a deficiency of these, he will consume any kind of 

 grain, such as barley or oats. Amongst the trees he is con- 

 tinually in search of small beetles, earwigs, caterpillars, and 

 the larvae of other insects, to obtain which he does not dig 

 into or amongst the wood of the trees he frequents, but he 

 procures his supply from beneath the old bark, which he 

 separates from the trees with his wedge-shaped beak, in 

 which employment he may very often be discovered. As 

 soon as the seeds are getting ripe, the Nuthatch proceeds in 

 search of them, and during the winter they form his chie 

 means of subsistence, and among these, nuts are his most 

 favourite food, which he brings from the tree by one at a 

 time, and inserts it in a rent or cleft of a branch, in which 

 he fixes it firmly, and continues to hammer at it with his 

 beak until he has broken the shell, after which he feeds 

 upon the kernel piecemeal. The position in which the Nut- 

 hatch places himself in order to strike the nut with the 

 greatest force is remarkable for the power of instinct which 

 it exhibits. He commences by securing a firm footing on 

 some branch a little above the place in which he has placed 

 the nut, and then striking with a sideling motion, he brings 

 his whole weight to bear upon and give additional force to 

 the action of his bill upon the surface of the nutshell, and it 

 is very seldom that the bird does not succeed in breaking 

 into it even if ever so hard. After the Nuthatch has satis- 

 fied his immediate wants, he may be seen to procure, and 

 lay up, a store for a future time of need, and he gives a les- 

 son to mankind not to trust to one place of security in hoard- 



