nuthatch

[ nuht-hach ]

/ ˈnʌtˌhætʃ /

any of numerous small, short-tailed, sharp-beaked birds of the family Sittidae that creep on trees and feed on small nuts and insects.

Origin of nuthatch

1300–50; Middle English notehache, nuthagge, nuthak, literally, nut hacker. See nut, hack¹

The body and bill of the Nuthatch is stouter, and not such a pretty shape, and his bill almost turns up.

Citizen Bird |Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues
Presently one of them was seen carefully primping his feathers—a function that I had not previously seen a nuthatch perform.

Our Bird Comrades |Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser
Another resident eastern species is the Nuthatch (Sitta csia), but neither of these is probably of Siberian origin.

The History of the European Fauna |R. F. Scharff
(a) What is the most noticeable character that distinguishes the nuthatch from the chickadee?

Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets |Various

The nuthatch clears up the trunk and large limbs, and the chickadee does the same for the small branches and around the leaves.

The Children's Book of Birds |Olive Thorne Miller

nuthatch

/ (ˈnʌtˌhætʃ) /

any songbird of the family Sittidae, esp Sitta europaea, having strong feet and bill, and feeding on insects, seeds, and nuts

C14: notehache, from note nut + hache hatchet, from the bird's habit of splitting nuts; see nut, hack 1