INSESSORES. CORVIDM.
T H E NUTCRACKER.
Carvus caryocatactes,
Caryocatactes nucifraga,
Nucifraga caryocatactes,
The Nutcracker; Pen-n. Britr-Zpol, VolJi.'^p. 298. .
Moïw., Or n i th.- D icj.
Bewick* .Brit. Birds.' vol. p. 103.
IP Lem. Brit. An. p. 88.
I Selby, Brit. OrnitH. vol. j. p; 368.
J enyns, Brit. Vert, p.-149. -
Go'oej>, Birds of "Europe,^r(i’ ix.
Le Casse Noix, T emm. Man. d-’Ormth. vol.i. p. If;1?.
Nucxfeaga. , Generic Characters.— Beak about as long as the head, straight,
conical ; the base dilated and dividing- thé frontal feathers; bottHiranaiijles
terminating in an obtuse point. NostribTbashl, round, open, coAdëÉdéd''by
hairs directed forward. Wings rather long ; the first quill-feather the shortest,
thé fourth,’ fifth, and sixth, nearly equal, and the longest in the wing. Tail
nearly square at the end. Tarsus lunger than the middle toe ; toes three before,
one behind, the two outer toes on each side united at the base.
T he NtoVCRACKER Crow, as it is sometimes called, has
heen separated from the- true Cfows by most modem syste-
mltib Authors-, ' Though aliietjl to the Crows in several particulars,
this bir-d exhibits also' some of the habits of the
WoodpeckfefS, and in Systematic arrangement has therefore
been* judiciously planed* between the Crows .and the Wood-
•p ^ è rs, as a-bohnbctihg form indicating by its modifications
thl'fransitión from' ’the otie teethe other. Two species of the
genus Nudffdga of Brisson are nbw known.
w' Although S t | Nutcracker is not uneommofi'tefome parts
-.óf Europe,:^its:-iptlfréncWin this country is so rare that it
m a y ^eMisefuT to :i:^iumerate such as have been recorded.^
Pennantj lif-tfie edition of his British Zoology, published in
1766-, sayk’%f?tte' Nutcracker, vol. ii. p. 265, th atth esp e-
cimé^Ae toó'k h-is "^description from was the only one he ever
heard o ïth a t was shot in these kingdoms. I t was killed near
Mostyn in FlmtSholfe, October 5th, 1T58.-
Mont&gli, in his Ornithological Dictionary, besides refer-
rihgAo'-the spebimen killed irtTlintshire, mentions another
that was killed in Kent. • In the Supplement to his Die-,
tionary, under the article Nutcracker, he says, “ Mr. Ansticè
assuihs usKfe saw oiie of this rare species near Bridgewater,
upon a Scotch fir, in the autumn of 1805. This accurate
observer of nature bo’uï'd not be deceived, as he examined the
bird, and attended’ to its actions for some time with the aid
of a pocket telescope,' which he usually carried with him for
■similar purpósék.:i In 18Ö®, one of these 'birds was
shot* in the north pf Devon, now in the collection of Mr.
‘ëoiüyrisl Another1 is stated in the Monthly Magazine for
December 18Ö8, to have been -shot in Cornwall.”
Mr. Selby refers W one-seen in Netherwitton Wood in