140 
BEAUTIFUL BIRDS. 
long direction. It generally keeps in pairs all the 
year round, accompanies its young for some weeks 
after they first come abroad, and after the breeding 
season, retires at night to the copses or woods, where 
sometimes a considerable number meet together. 
Closely resembling the Sturnidcd, or Starlings, in 
the form of its bill, the Nutcracker (Nucifraga) may 
be considered as the aberrant form of the present 
family. One species, the Nucifraga guttata^ is not 
uncommon on the continent of Europe, but is a 
rare visitant to Britain. It is a handsome bird, about 
the size of a Magpie, or about thirteen inches in 
length, and a foot and a half in the stretch of the 
wings. The bill is perfectly straight and conic ; the 
base being dilated, and dividing the frontal feathers ; 
the tongue is long and forked at the tip. The general 
colour of the body is dusky brown, marked all over 
with triangular white spots. The crown of the head, 
wings, and tail are blackish, the latter marked with 
white at the tip ; bill and legs dusky. 
The Nutcracker seems to bear some resemblance to 
the genus Picus, in its capacity of ascending the 
trunks of trees, and in feeding on the various insects 
and larva3 that inhabit the bark and wood. It feeds 
likewise upon the kernels of nuts, acorns, beech-mast, 
the seeds of the Coniferce, and other vegetable sub- 
stances, which, in consequence of the hardness of 
their envelopes, remain on the ground for a consider- 
able time, and serve as a store for nearly the whole 
season. The hardest of these it can readily break, 
and it is for this reason that it is called the Nut- 
\ 
cracker. It resorts to mountainous districts, where 
