THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OP GARDENING. 
273 
chosen a new residence before leaving the hive) and living in them for 
several years, till at last completely obstructed in their ingress and 
egress by the growth of the tree. And we have often stood witnessing the 
anxious bustle of the poor bees when the aperture was so contracted as to 
admit only one to pass at a time ; and finally, when at length closed, seen 
them clustering round the closed entrance, till killed by the night air. 
Although the nuthatch cannot be called a song bird, he has many 
cheerful calls, which are uttered pretty early in spring, and always, from 
their lively distinctness, have a joyous effect on the ear of the woodland 
traveller. Throughout the nut season he fares sumptuously; and when 
the nuts have fallen and lie buried among leaves, he industriously searches 
for them during winter. The nuthatch, when nuts are over, feeds on the 
kernels of cherries, plums, and at last on those of haws. His dexterity 
in cracking the shell of a nut is very amusing. The bird always chooses 
a crack or chink in the bark of a tree, which he uses as a vice ; in this 
the nut is firmly placed, and then the bird standing above, head down¬ 
wards, hammers the nut with his strong pointed beak till the shell is 
split and the kernel exposed, which is quickly eaten, and another sought 
to be broken in the same place. These birds, indeed, if locally situated, 
have a favourite vice or crevice, to which all their nuts are brought to be 
broken; and under this workshop we may often find a peck of shells, 
out of which the kernels have been extracted. 
The Tree Creeper (Certhia familiaris). This is a small brown bird, 
streaked with black, and very closely allied in economy with the wood¬ 
pecker. It lives on insects, which hide themselves under the exfoliations 
of the bark ; and while in search of them its action up the trunk of a tree 
is much like that of a mouse. Like all the other species of very small 
birds, they are not scared by the presence of man; and therefore this 
want of fear is made a nominal distinction. They nestle and lodge in 
holes of trees, and in the breeding season give now and then a short, 
squeaking strain of song, but which proves a very inferior part in the 
music of the groves. 
The Hoopoe (Upupa Epops) is a very beautiful bird, which visits us 
for a short time during summer, but in very small numbers. Their shy¬ 
ness in coming among us is not to be wondered at; for no sooner is a 
hoopoe seen or heard than every savage gunner is in pursuit, for the sake 
of having the dead bird stuffed for an ornament on his mantel-piece. The 
plumage is beautifully varied ; the crest, two inches long, is orange tipped 
with black; neck tinged with red ; under side of the body white, above 
barred with black and white, and tail the same, and the bill and legs 
black. 
