nuthatch
(ˈnʌthætʃ)
Forms: 4–5 note-, 5–6 not-; 5 nutte-, 5– nut-. Also 4 -hache, 5 -hach, 7 -hatch (9 hatchet); 5 -hak(e, -hage, 6 -hagge.
[f. nut n.1 The second element is connected with hack v.1, hag v.1, and hatch v.2, but the precise development of the forms is obscure.]
A small creeping bird belonging to the genus Sitta, so named from the peculiar way in which it breaks nuts in order to feed on the kernel. The common British species is S. cæsia.
| c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 796 Wyldegos and notehache. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 598 Nucifragus, a notehach. 14.. Nom. ibid. 702 Hic ficedula, a nuthage. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 359/1 Nothak, byrde, picus. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 55 The nuthake with her notes newe. 1530 Palsgr. 248/2 Nothagge, a byrde, jaye. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §4. 147 To the second sort of the Woodpecker kind, those other Birds may be reduced, which are..called Nuthatch. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 142 The Nuthatch or Nutjobber. 1752 Hill Hist. Anim. 503 Sitta, the Nuthatch; it is frequent with us. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. I. 185 The nuthatch weighs near an ounce. 1799 Southey The Filbert Wks. (1845) 164/1 Him may the Nut-hatch, piercing with strong bill, Unwittingly destroy. 1802 Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1831) 341 The Nuthatch is more expert in climbing than the wood⁓pecker. 1854 Orr's Circ. Sci., Org. Nat. I. 150 The nut⁓hatch utters a loud call, which may be heard at a considerable distance, resembling grew, deck, deck. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 648 Corsica has a Nuthatch peculiar to itself and remarkable for its black crown. |