N u c ifr a g a caryocatactes (Linnæus *).
THE NUTCRACKER.
Nucifraga caryocatactes.
Nuoifraua, Brissonf. —Beak about as long as the head, hard, stout and
straight, dilated at the base ; both mandibles terminating obtusely, the maxilla
prolonged and slightly depressed at the tip. Nostrils basal, round, hidden by
stiff feathers directed forwards. Feathers of the crown short. Wings moderate
and rather pointed ; the first primary the shortest, the fourth, fifth and sixth
nearly equal, but the fifth longest. Tail moderate and nearly square. Feet
stout ; tarsus longer than the middle toe, to which the outer toe is united at the
base ; claws stout, curved and sharp.
T h e N u tc r a ck e r , though not uncommon in some parts
of Europe, occurs in this country so rarely that the examples
recorded as obtained may he here enumerated. The first
* Corvus caryocatactes, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 157 (1766).
f Ornithologie, ii. p. 46 (1760).
known is said by Pennant (Br. Zool. Ed. 1, p. 78 note, and
Ed. 2, ii. p. 488) to have been shot at Mostyn, in Flintshire,
October 5th, 1753. Latham, in 1781 (Synops. i. p. 401),
added a second instance, haying seen the mutilated skin of
one obtained in Kent. In 1813*, Montagu mentioned one
in the collection of Mr. Comyns, which had been shot in
North Devon in August 1808. Another was recorded by Moore
(Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, i. p. 179) as shot near Washford
Pyne Moor, in the same county, in 1829, by Mr. W. Tucker.
On September 26th, 1844, one, now in Mr. Borrer’s collection,
was killed at Littlington in Sussex (Zool. p. 868), and
on October 30th of the same year, another, which passed
into Mr. Gurney’s possession, was shot at Rollesby, near
Yarmouth (op. cit. pp. 824, 1020, 1873). About 1847 one
is said (op. cit. p. 2914) to have been killed on Clandon
Common in Surrey, and early in October, 1853, one was
obtained near Yarmouth (op. cit. pp. 4096, 4124). Mr.
Foster recorded (op. cit. p. 6809) one killed at Wisbech,
October 8th, 1859, and on the same day of 1864, one was
obtained at Gorleston in Suffolk (op. cit. p. 9405). In the
autumn of 1865, according to Mr. Harting, one was killed
near Wakefield, and on November 6th, 1868, one near
Christchurch (Zool. s. s. pp. 1481, 1511).f
* In the same year (1813) Graves figured (Br. Orn. ii.) a specimen from
Bullock’s Museum, said to have been shot in Devon and given to the proprietor
by a Mr. Harrison. No notice of it, however, is taken in the ‘ Guide ’ to that
collection nor- in the catalogue of its contents when sold a few years later. The
anonymous compiler (believed by Mr. Harting to have been Mr. James of
Manaccan) of a list of the birds of Cornwall and Devon (Monthly Mag. xxvi.
pt. ii. p. 434, for Dec. 1808) mentions one seen by him in autumn in one of those
counties. Whether it was the specimen recorded by Montagu is uncertain.
f In 1846, Messrs. Gurney and Fisher mentioned (Zool. p. 1315) an example
“ taken some years since at Southwold, in Suffolk,” but the Editor, without
expressing any doubt as to the statement, is compelled to remark that he has
failed in obtaining any confirmation of it. He is however informed by Sir E.
Kerrison that he has had a specimen in his possession for about forty years,
which he believes to have been killed at Oakley Park in the same county.. An
example is said (Zool. p. 4168) to have occurred near Whitehaven in Cumberland,
but the list which includes it contains so many extraordinary assertions that
belief in this particular statement may await the adducement of further
evidence, the more so since it is not declared whether the example was procured