340 



NUTHATCH. 



head and all upper parts of the body are of a bluish-grey ; from the 

 upper mandible through the eye is a black streak passing backwards 

 down the neck ; chin and cheeks whitish ; breast and belly buff-colour ; 

 sides and thighs ferruginous-chestnut ; quills dusky ; under coverts of 

 the tail white, margined with ferruginous ; tail short, composed of 

 twelve feathers, but not stiff, as in the woodpeckers ; the two middle 

 ones bluish-grey ; the outer one is black, tipped with grey, separated 

 by a white bar ; the second nearly the same, but the spot of white is 

 only on the inner web ; the rest are black, more or less marked with a 

 little grey and white at the ends ; legs pale yellowish ; claws large ; the 

 hind one very strong. The female is lighter colour beneath, especially 

 about the sides and thighs. 



The singular noise produced by some species of woodpeckers, by re- 

 iterated strokes of the bill against the decayed limb of a tree, has been 

 erroneously ascribed to this bird by Dr. Plott. 



It remains with us the whole year, but is a local bird, and not to be 

 found in several parts of the kingdom. We have never observed it far 

 north, nor so far west as Cornwall. It chiefly affects wooded and en- 

 closed situations, choosing the deserted habitation of a woodpecker in 

 some tree for the place of nidification. This hole is first contracted by 

 a plaster of clay, leaving only sufficient room for itself to pass in and 

 out. The nest is then made of dead leaves, most times that of the oak, 

 which are heaped together without much order. The eggs are six or 

 seven in number, white, spotted with rust-colour, so exactly like those 

 of the oxeye in size and markings, that it is impossible to distinguish 

 any difference. If the barrier of plaster at the entrance is destroyed 

 when they have eggs, it is speedily replaced ; a peculiar instinct to pre- 

 vent their nest being destroyed by the woodpecker and other birds of 

 superior size, who build in the same situation. 



*It appears to me no less probable that the wall may be constructed 

 to prevent the unfledged young from tumbling out of the nest when 

 they begin to stir about ; for all young birds of a certain age become 

 very restless, and in the instance in question they might, if there was 

 no barricade, find their way out, and be precipitated to the bottom of 

 the tree. 



M. Montbeillard tells us, that when they cannot find a hole in a tree 

 to suit them, they hew out an excavation with their bills, if they can 

 meet with a spot that is worm-eaten. Its manner of proceeding in this 

 operation may be understood from the wedge-like form and abrupt 

 termination of its bill, as is justly remarked by Mr. Swainson. A bird 



