spotted and blotched, sometimes boldly, with reddish-brown
and occasionally dull purple, and measure from -83 to "7 by
from ’59 to -53 in. Should the nest be examined while the
hen is sitting she makes a resolute defence, hissing like a
snake and using her sharp hill against the invader’s fingers
so as sometimes to draw blood.
The actions of this bird are very amusing, and where it
occurs it may easily be induced to come under observation
by fixing a few nuts in the bark of any suitable tree, the
supply being renewed as wanted. The kernel of a nut
pinned to the bark is sure to tempt a visitor, and if this be
done within sight of a window, the bird’s habits may be
most conveniently watched*. Crusts of bread, no matter
how hard, exposed in winter on a window-sill, likewise attract
this species, and great pleasure may be derived from seeing
the way in which the bird will carry off a piece half as big
as itself to eat it at leisure. The quantity thus consumed
is enormous. There is, however, the disadvantage of the
Nuthatch driving away almost every other recipient of such
doles—the pugnacious Redbreast not excepted. No true
naturalist need be told that the mode just described of
studying the habits of this species is far better than trying
to cage it. The old birds, indeed, will not bear confinement
at all, and, though readily eating almost anything that is
* Some very interesting observations thus made are recorded (Zool. p. 213),
by Mr. J. C. Atkinson. Almost daily for two years he watched a pair which
resorted to an old mulberry-tree, standing about eight or ten feet from a window.
“ They were there the first thing in the morning, and apparently the last thing
before going to roost. Seeing that the nuts were carried away whole, I began
to crack them, and fix the kernel only in the crevices, or by means of pins, to
the tree. The greater part of the nuts were now eaten on the sp o t; occasionally,
when a large piece was got, the birds flew away with it to some tall trees
close by, but very soon returned for more. Their absence on these occasions was
very short, certainly not long enough to lead me to suppose they had time to eat
the n u t ; I concluded it was either added to a store already existing, or deposited
on the tall trees ” The cock would never allow the hen to feed at the
same time that he was feeding, though in the breeding season he would feed
her with much apparent tenderness. “ Latterly these birds became so tame
as to sit within two feet or so of my head, while I was preparing their feast,
and if I threw a nut into the air to them, they would fly after and catch it.
They took dozens in this way. ”
given them, they soon kill themselves through their unceasing
efforts to escape. The young, however, may he reared
with less risk, and Sir William Jardine, in a note to his
edition of Wilson’s ‘ American Ornithology’ (i. p. 37), relates
his having seen a brood in captivity which had become
remarkably tame, and, when released from their cage, would
run over their owner in all directions, up or down his body
and limbs, poking their hills into seams or holes, as if in
search of food, and uttering, during the time, a low and
plaintive cry. “ When running up or down,” he says,
“ they rest upon the hack part of the whole tarsus, and make
great use as a support, of what may be called the real heel,
and never use the tail.” He further adds that when roosting,
they sleep with the head and back downwards, as do
most species of Titmouse—a statement which has been
corroborated by Mr. Blytli.
The Nuthatch is found pretty commonly in most of the
wooded parts of southern, eastern and central England, and
though more local and rare in the north-western and northern
counties, may be said to breed regularly throughout the
country. I t is not found in Ireland, and in Scotland its
appearance is merely accidental; of late years, according to
Mr. Gray, it has only occurred thrice, once in Berwickshire,
once in Haddingtonshire and once in Bressey, one of the
Shetlands*; but it has been formerly recorded from Perthshire
and Forfarshire. On the continent its most northern limit
seems to be Jutland, and it is found on the island of Funen,
where also Sitta europaa occurs, but on the other Danish
islands the latter entirely replaces it. I t inhabits the whole
of Germany, and probably the southern parts of Russia, but
even near Moscow the northern form only seems to exist.
Of its range further eastward all that can at present be said
with certainty is that Mr. Blanford obtained it in Persia. A
red-bellied Nuthatch indeed is found in southern Siberia and
on the Amoor, but, as Mr. Dresser suggests, it may possibly
* This specimen does not seem to have been examined by any one aware of
the differences between Sitla ccesm and the northern S. europcea. I t may possibly
have belonged to the latter.