WIIITE-BRE ASTED 
NUTHATCH. 
193 
rigors of the severest winter weatlicr, liis note is still beard in tlie bleak 
and leafless woods, and among tbe howlinjT brancbes. Sometimes the 
rain, freezing as it falls, encloses every twig, and even tbe trunk of tbe 
tree, in a hard transparent coat or shell of ice. On these occasions, I 
have observed bis anxiety and dissatisfaction, at being with diiiiculty 
able to make bis way along tbe smooth surface ; at these times generally 
abandoning tbe trees, gleaning about tbe stables around the bouse, mix- 
ing among the fowls, entering tbe barn, and examining tbe beams and 
rafters, and every place where be may pick up a subsistence. 
The name Nuthatch has been bestowed on this family of birds from 
their supposed practice of breaking nuts by repeated hatchings, or ham- 
merings with their bills. Soft-shelled nuts, such as chestnuts, chinko- 
pins, and hazel-nuts, they may probably be able to demolish, though I 
have never yet seen them so engaged ; but it must be rather in search 
of maggots that sometimes breed there, than for the kernel. It is how- 
ever said that they lay up a large store of nuts for winter ; but as I 
have never either found any of their magazines, or seen them collecting 
them, I am inclined to doubt the fact. From the great numbers I have 
opened at all seasons of the year, I have every reason to believe that 
ants, small seeds, insects and their larvte, form their chief subsistence, 
such matters alone being uniformly found in their stomachs. Neither 
can I sec what necessity they could have to circumambulate tbe trunks 
of trees, Avith such indefatigable and restless diligence, while bushels of 
nuts lay scattered round their roots. As to tbe circumstance mentioned 
by Dr. Plott, of the European Nuthatch " putting its bill into a crack 
in tbe bough of a tree, and making such a violent sound, as if it was 
rending asunder," this, if true, would be sufficient to distinguish it from 
the species we have been just describing, which possesses no such 
faculty. Tbe female differs little from tbe male in color, chiefly in tbe 
black being less deep on the bead and wings. 
Vol. I.— 13 
