27 MAY 1949, Page 20

Nut - Grackers A Suffolk doctor has been watching with a confliction

of feelings (between the gourmet and the ornithologist) the disappearance of his almonds, usually reserved for Christmas-fare. A great spotted woodpecker picks up every fallen nut, gives a laugh of triumph, carries each off to apesdar tine aczass else isms and then most neatly ages eat* nut i* halves, which freely litter the ground under the poplar tree. One can Leff by inspecting any de-kerneled nut what species of animal has been at work. Few of them, I think, use the rough nutcracker method. Bads squirrel and mouse cat the thin end neatly with their fore-teeth, and the mouse carries them all-,at least in my experience—to a hidden store:- ham, where (unlike the squirrel's) they are visited till all are eaten. Tice woodpecker's beak is a yet neater weapon than the rodent's teeth, and the almond, of which I have no experience (except in relation to cockatoos in Australia), offers a much tougher job than the hazel nut.