[Illustration]
Sitta Europæa, LINNÆUS; La Sittele, ou le Torchepot, BUFFON;
Der Nusshacker, BECHSTEIN.
The length of this bird is six inches and a half, of which one and a
half is included in the tail, and three-quarters in the beak, which is
strong, straight, a little flat at the tip; the eyes are greyish brown;
the feet yellowish grey, the claws very strong. The forehead is blue
only in the male; the rest of the upper part of the body is of a blue
grey; the cheeks and throat are white; a black streak passing across the
eyes extends from the base of the beak to the neck; the belly and breast
are of a dingy orange colour.
HABITATION.--When wild it generally frequents woods. In the winter it
approaches villages, and will even fly into barns and stables.
In the house it must be kept in a cage made entirely of wire, as wood
cannot resist the strength of its beak[28].
FOOD.--In its wild state it lives on insects, which it seeks for in
the trees, being able to cling to and run about the branches in any
way: it also eats nuts and beech mast, which it skilfully fixes in
the chinks of the trees, that it may crack them more easily.
In the house, it may be fed on hemp seed, oats, barley meal, or even
bread. The way in which it crushes the hemp seed and oats is very
curious; it takes as many as it can in its beak, and ranges them in
order in the cracks of the floor, always taking care to put the large
end lowest, that it may break them more easily; it then begins to
despatch them one after another with the greatest skill and agility.
The lady who has been occasionally mentioned in the introduction,
amused herself in the winter, and particularly when the snow was on
the ground, with throwing, several times a day, different kinds of
seeds on the terrace below the window, in order to feed the birds in
the neighbourhood. These soon became accustomed to this distribution,
and arrived in crowds when they heard the clapping of hands, which
was the signal used to call them. She put some hemp seed and cracked
nuts even on the window-sill, and on a board, particularly for her
favourites, the blue tits. Two nuthatches came one day to have their
share in this repast, and were so well pleased that they became quite
familiar, and did not even go away in the following spring, to get
their natural food and to build their nest in the wood. They settled
themselves in the hollow of an old tree near the house; as soon as
the two young ones, which they reared here, were able to fly, they
brought them to the hospitable window where they were to be
nourished, and soon after disappeared entirely. It was very amusing
to see these two new visiters hang or climb on the wall or blinds,
whilst their benefactress put their food on the board. These pretty
creatures, as well as the tits, knew her so well, that when she drove
away the sparrows which came to steal what was not intended for
them, they did not fly away also, but seemed to know that what was
done was only to protect and defend them.
These nuthatches remained near the house for the whole summer, rarely
wandering, till one fatal day, at the beginning of the sporting
season, in autumn, they no sooner heard the report of a gun than they
disappeared, and were never again seen. It is possible that fear
alone had driven them so far that they could not find their way home
again; they did not know that there they would have been in greater
safety.
If these birds are left at liberty in the room, they are accustomed,
like the tits, to hide the greater part of what is given to them, to
keep it for another meal; but their trick of piercing holes in the
wood makes them inconvenient, and therefore it is better to keep them
in a cage.
BREEDING.--The nuthatch builds its nest in the holes of old trees, and
lays six or seven eggs spotted with red.
MODE OF TAKING.--As it has the same taste for hemp seed and oats as
the tits, it may often be caught in the same snare; it may also be
taken in the area or barn floor trap. Its call is "_gru, dek, dek_."
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Its plumage, liveliness, agility, and great
cunning in catching and hiding its food, are its most agreeable
qualities.
[Illustration: NUTHATCH CLAW.]
[Illustration: GOLDFINCH.]