the county of Northumberlatfd, in the autumn of 1819, by
his brother Captain Robert Mitford, of the Royal Navy, who
also during an excursion in Switzerland, September 1825,
met with a large flock of Nutcrackers in a forest mostly composed
of pinasters and stone pines. These birds were all
busily engaged, feeding upon the Seeds contained in the
cones. They were not wild, but allowed of a near approach.
Mr. E. H. Rodd, of Penzance, in an extended communication
to myself on the birds of Cornwall, mentions that one
was seen on a tree on the banks of Hooe Lake by Thomas
Bulted, Esq. of Belle Vue, near Plymouth,
Dr. Edward Moore of Plymouth, in his published catalogue
of the Birds of Devonshire, besides referring to the
example mentioned by Montagu, has recorded one other that
was shot in Devonshire in. 1829, near Washford Pyne Moor,
by Mr, W . Tucker, of Dawlish.
Rusticus, of Godaiming, has lately noticed that one was
closely watched by a gentleman in Pepper Harrow Park, the
seat of Lord Middleton.
Mr. Maegillivray, in his History of British Birds, says.,
“ There is a specimen in the Museum of the University of
Edinburgh, said to have been shot in • O ' Scotland; another in
that of Mr. Arbuthnot, at Peterhead; while the individual
also killed in Scotland, from which this description was taken*
belongs to Mr. Thomas Henderson, Coate’s Crescent, Edinburgh.
1’
I do not find any notice of the occurrence of this bird in
Ireland.
M. Vieillot says this bird appears-to prefer mountainous
countries that are covered with firs. They are found in
Auvergne, Savoy, on the Alps in Switzerland, and in Austria,
where our countryman and naturalist Willughby mentions
having seen them. P . Roux includes the Nutcracker
among his Birds of Provence, and M. Savi also in his Birds
óf Italy. Although properly speaking the Nutcracker is not
a migratory bird, yet M; .Vieillot observes that they fre-
queUtly wander from one part of the country to another, probably
because some article of fo’O'd fails them. They unite
occasiqnally, forming numerous flocks, quit the mountains,
and descend to spread their numbers over the plains, always
selecting those in which they find abundance of firs. Their
food consists of insects, seeds of pines, beech-mast, and
n u ts th e s e - last they are safd to crack like the Nuthatch,
by fixing them in a crevice..' of the bark of a tree, and then
pecking at them with great: force with the beak. Messrs.
Wolf and Meyer,'in their History-of the Birds of Germany,
and M. Nilsson, in his Ornithology^óf Sweden, and M.
Temminck, in his Manual .of the Birds of Europe, each
state that the, .Nutcracker ^does-'occasionally feed on nggs or
young birds, thus - resembling the Crows ; and it is also said
that it can climb the bark of a tree like a Woodpecker. A
gentleman who had travelled in Norway, where he had seen
the Nuteracker*, ssfysf’“- That they frequent the extreme tops
of the Pines, keeping a sharp look out, and very shy. When
On the wing, the flight is like that of the Jackdaw. They
nest in holes of trees,' which they excavate or enlarge sufficiently
for their purpose, like the Woodpeckers and this is
not the only point of resemblance to that tribe of birds, for
h e found that the middle feathers of th e ' tail were worn by
climbing among the trunks and branches of trees.
The eggs are said to be five or six in number, of a yellowish
grey colour, with a few spots of yellowish or wood-brown.
An eOgOg in the collection of Mr. Willmot, of the Temple,
which is believed to be that of a Nutcracker, and which that
gentleman very kindly lent me to have a drawing made from
it for my use in this work, measures one inch one line in
length, by ten lines' in breadth, is also of a greyish" white
colour, spotted over the larger end with bluish grey and light
ash brown.