T* the natural history 
climbing the bark, or running up walls, they 
fix, and fufpend themfelvcs in every poflible 
foim; iometimes with the head downwards, feek- 
ing for worms, infe&s, their larvae, chryfalids, or 
eggs. They (bed too on feveral kinds of feeds, 
but in {lead of breaking them like Linnets, and 
Goldfinches, between the mandibles of their beak, 
they generally place them between their feet, and 
pierce them with the point of the bill. It is cu¬ 
rious to fee them feed in this manner upon hemp- 
feed ; they will pierce the {hells of nuts and al¬ 
monds, and if a nut be fufpended at the end of a 
firing, they will fix upon it, firike it with the bill, 
and fufi'er themfelvcs to vibrate with the ftrinp-, 
without once loofing their hold, or ceafing to 
peck the nut. 
The mufcies cf their neck are very ftrorg, 
and their fkulls are thick ; this explains in part 
their manoeuvres, but to account for the whole, 
we muft fuppofe that the mufcies cf their legs and 
feet are very fti'ong. 
Towards the clofe of autumn, they frequent 
the neighbourhood of-eur habitations, feeding upon 
feeds, and the infers which the cold of winter 
has deftroyed. They fearch too for the bodies of 
dead birds ; and if they find any alive, entangled 
in traps, or weakened by difeafe, they take an ad¬ 
vantage 
6 
