Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/243

Rh out one single exception, in the bill. The feet were never used for that purpose.

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. It is worthy of notice that I never saw more than two of these birds on the tree or in the garden, although they were by no means uncommon in the neighbourhood; their young even were never admitted. Could there be any connexion between their annual absence in May and the non-appearance of their young?

Their position when feeding was a matter of perfect indifference: one while they would be head downwards, then in a horizontal position, (the table above mentioned being nearly perpendicular); then with their heads uppermost.

The yew-berry affords them a food to which they seem to be partial. They extract the hard stone or kernel with great neatness, the red pulp showing no mark of violence.

Their note or rather cry varies much with the season. I have noticed no less than three, two of which were used indiscriminately, but the other was peculiar to the spring.

The ox-eye (Parus major) occasionally "hammers," as do the wood-peckers and nuthatch. I once shot one in the act. Having but an imperfect view of it, I imagined it must be the barred wood-pecker, a specimen of which I wished to get.

The nun or blue-cap (P. cæruleus) does the same, in a less degree. Being in a shed a few months back, my attention was excited by hearing repeated taps on the outside of the coarse deal planking which formed the sides. Looking cautiously through a crevice, 1 saw a nun actively engaged in ferreting out the small white grub which erodes its channel between the bark and wood of fir. And I have since seen the same bird similarly employed. It gained access to the grub by removing small pieces of bark.

raven, or, as we call him in Scotland, the "corbie," is a bold, hardy, and strong-pinioned fowl. He is said to be black, and so he appears at a distance, but when inspected more nearly, his feathers are found to be of a glossy blue. His length is about two feet, and the fourth feather of his wing is the longest. The strength and struc-