


! 
. We 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
= 
‘74 
Guus 20. eo. TT Be 
THE N.U THA T C Fi. 
The beak is awl-fhaped, fmooth, ftrait, the upper mandi. 
Ble rather longer and black, and compreffed at the point; 
the lower mandible white. 
The tongue fhort, horny at the end, and jagged. 
The noftrils covered with briflles. 
The feathers of the tail are fi ff. 
The feet formed for walking or hopping, that is,’three toey 
“before and one behind. . 
HE Nuthatch runs up and down the bodies | 
aX oof trees, and feeds upon infects and nut- 
kernels. 
He is a very wife and careful bird, for he faves 
nuts for the winter ; and when he has occafion for 
_them, he brings one at a time from his board, and 
places it in the chink of a tree, and ftands above 
it-with his head downwards; then he ftrikes the 
nut with his bill, with all his ftrength, and breaks 
it, and catches up the kernel before it can fall to 
the ground. 
The female makes her neft in hollow trees, — 
and if the hole be too large, fhe {tops up part of 
it with clay. She is very fond of her young ones, é 
. and will fuffer her feathers to be pulled off, rather 
é than 
