. News from the birds . farther. No doubtthey knew where there were some corn grainsor sunflower seeds in the crannies of the bark,which they would have relished on that coldwinter day had they been get-at-able; but ofcourse they were beyond the reach of the birds,though not beyond their sight, held fast be-neath that hard, glassy covering. Perhaps thenuthatches felt a little provoked, too, for theircalls seemed to be more petulant than usual. And how should they be aware of the pres-ence of grains and seeds in the gullies of thebark ? Because they lay by a store of suchsupplies in the autumn
. News from the birds . farther. No doubtthey knew where there were some corn grainsor sunflower seeds in the crannies of the bark,which they would have relished on that coldwinter day had they been get-at-able; but ofcourse they were beyond the reach of the birds,though not beyond their sight, held fast be-neath that hard, glassy covering. Perhaps thenuthatches felt a little provoked, too, for theircalls seemed to be more petulant than usual. And how should they be aware of the pres-ence of grains and seeds in the gullies of thebark ? Because they lay by a store of suchsupplies in the autumn for the winters have more than once seen them doing that very day I had another proof, in ad-dition to many previous proofs, of this provi-dent habit, for I saw a nuthatch draw a grainof corn from a crevice, and then scamper abouton the tree until he found a convenient pocketin which to thrust it while he picked it topieces and ate it; and this took place in thevery depth of the woods, with no cornfield or. The icy woodsNuthatches. 12 154 HEWS FROM THE BIRDS. cornbin within at least a quarter of a course, that nuthatch, or one of its brothersor cousins, had stowed away that grain of corna few months before, just for such a time ofneed as this. In the autumn I made a little discoverywhich led me to add another item to the nut-hatchs rather varied bill of fare. I was watch-ing a couple of these birds hopping about onthe leafy ground, or pecking vigorously at somedainty on the tree trunks. Fixing my eye onone of the latter, I approached the place wherehe was feeding, and found in a cranny of thebark a cracked hickory-nut shell with part ofthe kernel pecked out. I had driven the littlediner-out away from his repast before he hadfinished it, for which act of rudeness he beratedme roundly, little malapert, as I doubtless de-served. Then, to my surprise, I noticed thatthe crevices of the bark contained many ofthese broken shells rifled of their boy o
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