n u t h a t c h .
«4*
«.
-f- EUROPEAN
n u t h a t c h .
©ESaRIFTION.
Female.
Sitta Europaea, Z it. SjJ. i. p. , 77. N° i.-S c e f. an«. i. p. ; 0. N° 57._
Kramerei, p. 362— Müller, N° 102. p. 13.
La Sittelfe, ou le Torchepot, Buß elf. v. p. 460. pl. 20 — B rif er«, lii.
p. S88. N° pl. 2p. f. 3 .-/ 7 . enl. 623. f. i. p. 47. A. 4.
Blau-ipecht, Frifcb. t. 3p.
Nutbreaker, Albiu. ü. pl. 28.
Woodcracker, PArV Oxferdjh. p. i 7;.
Nuthatch, or Nutjobber, Will. er», p. 142. t. 23.— Br. Zeel. i. N° 89. pl. 38.
Br. Muf. Lev. Muß
AJ pH IS bird, as defcribed in the Britijb Zoology, weighs near an
ounce, and is in length five inches and three quarters. The
bill is ftrong and ftrait, about three quarters of an inch long; the
upper mandible black; the lower white : irides hazel: the crown
o f the head, back, and wing coverts, are of a fine blueiih grey :
a black ftroke paffes over the eye from the mouth: the cheeks
and chin are white: the bread and belly of a dull orange-colour:
quills dulky: the wings beneath marked with two fpots 3 one
white, at the root of the exterior quills, the other black, at the
joint of the baftard wing: the tail confifts of twelve feathers ; the
two middle ones are grey; the two exterior tipt with grey;
then fucceeds a tranfverfe white fpot; beneath that the reft is
black: legs pale yellow: claws large; the back one very ftrong.
The female is like the male, but lefs in fize; and weighs commonly
five, or at moft fix, drams.
The eggs are fix or feven in number, of a dirty white, dotted
with rufous; thefe are depofited in feme hole of a tree, frequently
one which has been deferred by a Woodpecker, on the rotten wood
mixed with a little mofs, Sec. I f the entrance be too large, the
bird
bird nicely ftops up part of it With clay, leaving only a fmall hole
for itfelf to pais in and out by. "While the hen is fitting, if any
one puts a bit of ftick into the hole, (he hiffes like a Snake, and
is fo attached to her eggs, that Ihe will fooner fuffer any one to
pluck off her feathers than fly away. During the time of incubation,
the male fupplies her with fuftenance, with all the tendernefs
of an affeftionate mate.
The general food confifts of Caterpillars, Beetles, and all forts of
infects, as well as nuts. Willughby obferves, that it is a pretty
fpeftacle to fee her fetch a nut out of her hoard, when, placing it
fail in a chink, ihe ftands above it, with the head downwards, and,
ftriking it with all her force, breaks the ihell, and catches up
the kernel.
This bird runs up and down the trees like the Woodpecker, is
folitary, and often moves the tail like the Wagtail-, it does not
migrate, but changes its fituation in winter, as it often, at that
time, approaches inhabited places, fometimes coming into orchards
and gardens. The young are accounted good eating.
It is fuppofed not to ileep perched, like other birds, on a tw ig;
for it has been obferved, that when kept in a cage, notwithftand-
ing it would perch now and then, yet at night it would, if poffible,
creep into fome hole or corner to ileep in; and it is remarkable,
that when perched, or otherwife at reft, it has moftly the head
downwards, or at leaft even with the body, and not elevated like
other birds.