NUTCRACKER. 
against them by the proprietors of the woods, 
for the injuries which they commit on tlic 
large trees, by piercing the trunks, like the 
Woodpeckers; part are, therefore, soon de- 
stroyed, and the rest forced to seek an asylum 
in the desart unprotected forests. Nor is this 
the only circumstance in which they resemble 
the Woodpeckers. They nestle, like them, 
■in holes of trees, which perhaps they have 
■themselves formed," observes BufFon; and in 
which case, he might have added, they are 
,literally Woodpeckers: the middle quills oi 
■the. tail being also even near the end, which 
demonstrates that they, as well as the Wood- 
peckers, clamber on trees. In short, Nature; 
-seems to have placed the Nutcrackers between 
the W oodpeckers and Jays ; and it is singular, 
that Will ughby has given them this precise ar- 
rangement in his Ornithology, though his 
description suggests no relation between these 
species. The irides of the Nutcracker arc of 
a hazel colour; the bill, the feet, and the 
nails, are black ; the nostrils are shaded with 
whitish feathers, straight, stilf, and projedling ; 
the feathers of the wings and tail are blackish, 
without spots, but terminated for the most part 
wlih 
