nuthatch

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English

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A wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English nutthache, notehache, nuthake, nuttehake, nothak, equivalent to nut +‎ hatch. Compare English nutcracker.

Noun

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nuthatch (plural nuthatches)

  1. Any of various small passerine birds from the family Sittidae (and its single genus Sitta), found throughout the northern hemisphere and noted for their unusual proclivity for climbing down trees head first.
    • 1895, Richard Lydekker, editor, The Royal Natural History, Volume 3, Frederick Warne & Co., page 440:
      Nuthatches have rather a habit of entering houses through open windows, probably out of curiosity; and we owed to this habit a pet nuthatch, which became extremely tame, and used to take flies from our finger.
    • 1996, The Nebraska Bird Review, Volumes 64-69, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, page 156:
      The bird was in very faded plumage with only a slight rusty wash to the underparts, and had I not heard the call, I might have mistaken it for a Pygmy Nuthatch.
    • 1998, George Adams, Birdscaping Your Garden, Rodale Press, page 65:
      Considered a resident bird, the red-breasted nuthatch usually winters in the coniferous forests within its breeding range.

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