OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 



263 



hazel. These birds were con- 

 stantly in motion, flying from 

 tree to tree, and travelling round 

 the thick branches, or about the 

 gnarled and prominent bark sur- 

 rounding holes formed by decay, 

 ever and anon uttering a clear 

 whistling note ; we observed 

 them take insects, and search 

 for them in the fissures of the 

 bark ; but neither saw nor heard 

 them hammering at nuts, for 

 these, the season being spring or 

 the early part of summer, were 

 not matured. Nuts, however, 

 form a portion of their diet, and 

 the strokes made by the bird 

 while endeavouring to extract 

 the kernel may be heard at a 

 considerable distance. It fixes 

 them in some chink or cleft, and 

 splits the shell with repeated 

 blows. Mr. Selby says that " in 

 autumn many of these broken 

 nut-shells may be seen in the 

 open bark of old trees, in places 

 where these birds abound, as 

 they return repeatedly to the 

 same spot for this purpose." 



There is a group of beetles 

 termed weevils, 11, the larvae of 

 which are very injurious, some 

 to fruits of various kinds, others 

 to grain. The adult beetles are 

 furnished with long " 

 slender horny beaks, 

 which are efficient in- 

 struments. One spe- 

 cies, the nut-weevil * 

 drills by means of 

 the beak, which car- 

 ries the jaws at its 

 extremity, a hole in 

 the nut of the filbert 

 or hazel, while young 669. 



and in its soft state, that is, 

 about the beginning of Au- 

 gust. Into this orifice, re- 

 jecting a nut previously pierced, 

 the female introduces a single 

 egg, which is hatched in about 

 a fortnight ; on the kernel the 

 caterpillar, 12, feeds, and when 

 the nut falls to the ground, it 

 makes its escape by the orifice, 9, 

 which it probably enlarges, and 

 burrows into the earth, there 

 remaining throughout the winter 

 and spring, the pupa state being 

 assumed in summer, and the 

 perfect insect making its ap- 

 pearance in the autumn.* 



The branches of the hazel are 

 used for making crates, hurdles, 

 hoops, fishing-rods, garden seats, 

 and various kinds of rustic and 

 basket work, &c. The hazel is 

 resorted to by numerous cater- 

 pillars, such as those of the 

 common butterfly and the lobster, 

 Kentish glory, tan emperor, brown 

 muslin, nut-tree tussock, copper 

 underwing, large emerald, May 

 highflyer, and great chequered 

 moths. 



The berberry, 13, forms va- 

 riously an ornamental shrub, a 

 fruit tree, a hedge plant, a dye, 

 and a drug. The flowers, 14, are 

 of a yellow colour, and when the 

 shrubs are in full blossom in the 

 spring, they are very beautiful. 

 The berries, 15, are of a rich 

 scarlet colour, and are highly 

 ornamental in the autumn. The 

 smell of the flowers is, however, 

 offensive when near, but rather 

 agreeable from a distance. The 

 berries are so very acid that birds 

 will seldom touch them. The 



» K:»i_bt'» Museum of" Anintur^d Nufarc. 



