2 56 
NU THATCH, = CrassIl. 
exterior feathers tipt with gtey, then fucceeds a tranf- 
verfe white fpor; beneath that the reft is black; | 
the legs are of a pale yellow; the back toe very 
ftrong, and the claws large. 
This bird runs up and down the bodies of trees, 
like the woodpecker tribe; and feeds not only on < 
infects, but nuts, of which it lays up a confidera- 
ble provifion in the hollows of trees: it is a pret- 
ty fight, fays Mr. Willughby, to fee her fetch a nut 
out of her hoard, place it faft in a chink, and then 
ftanding above it with its head downwards, ftrikine 
it with all its force, breaks the fhell, and catch- 
es up the kernel: it breeds in the hollows of trees; 
if the entrance to its neft be too large, it ftops up 
part of it with clay, leaving only room enough for 
admiffion : in autumn it begins to make a chatter- 
ing noife, being filent for the greateft part of the 
year. Doéor Plott tells us, that this bird, by put- 
ting its bill into a. crack in the bough of a tree, 
can make fuch a violent found as if it was rending 
afunder, fo that the noiie may be heard at left twelve 
{core yards. 
Slender 
