THE NUTCRACKER. 

 Nucifraga caryocatactes (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 19. 



The earliest known occurrence of the Nutcracker in the British Islands was one 

 obtained in Wales in October 1753, and recorded by Pennant. Since that date 

 a good many have been noticed, mostly in England. 



Abroad it breeds among the pine forests in the mountainous parts of Central 

 and Southern Europe, and ranges eastwards across Siberia. 



The Siberian form has a longer and more slender bill than the one inhabiting 

 Europe, and as it is apparently this race which most commonly visits England, I 

 have represented it in the plate. 



Little was known of the nest and eggs of the Nutcracker until 1862, when they 

 were obtained on the Danish island of Bornholm, lying to the south of Sweden in 

 the Baltic ; although an egg had been procured in the lower Alps by the Abb^ 

 Caire as far back as 1846. 



Like the Jay, the Nutcracker becomes extraordinarily shy and silent during the 

 nesting time, which begins very early in the season before the winter's snow has 

 melted in the forests, where the nest is built on the bough of a pine, at a moderate 

 height from the ground. 



The nest, composed of sticks, with a lining of grasses and moss, contains from 

 three to five eggs, pale bluish-green in ground colour, spotted and freckled with 

 olive-brown. 



The Nutcracker feeds on the seeds of coniferous trees, nuts, berries, and insects, 

 whilst in manner of flight and tone of voice it resembles the Jay. 

 The female is indistinguishable from the male in colour. 



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