68 
NUTHATCH. TREE-CREEPER. 
in hammering nuts to pieces, which it first adroitly 
fixes in a crevice of the bark, and when the shell is 
broken, eats the kernel. Should the nut accidentally 
fall, it will dart down, and, in most cases, catch it 
with its claws before it reaches the ground, and 
replacing it in its chink, resume its work. One, 
slightly wounded, and caught, was put in a cage, 
when, without loss of time, it began battering the 
wood-work, just as it would have done a nut- shell, 
and persevered till it died, more of fatigue than 
hunger, for they are hold birds, and feed readily. In 
America, it is said that they can he tamed, and will 
creep up and down their owner s body, poking their 
hills into seams and button-holes, just as they do on 
trees in their wild state. 
The Certhia, or Tree-Creeper, like the Nuthatch, 
glides up and down the stems of trees, hut so far 
from having a hill strong enough to crack a nut, it 
is so feeble that the shell of a beetle’s wing would 
resist its powers — but it is admirably adapted for its 
mode of life. The little Tree-Creeper looks more 
like a mouse than a bird, as it runs in silence up 
and down a bough in search of minute insects ; and 
so beneficial has it been found in ridding trees of 
noxious insects, that in America, where it seems 
to be more abundant than with us, a box is placed 
at the top of a long pole, to entice it to build 
in gardens, where it makes itself a very welcome 
guest. 
The Bee-Eaters are so rarely seen in England, as 
scarcely to be considered as British birds, hut when 
once seen can never he mistaken, or forgotten, bril- 
liant as they are with blue and green of various 
