nuthatch

What it means

1. Any of various small passerine birds from the genus Sitta, found throughout the northern hemisphere and noted for their unusual proclivity for climbing down trees head first.

   Considered a resident bird, the red-breasted nuthatch usually winters in the coniferous forests within its breeding range.

   1998, George Adams, Birdscaping Your Garden, Rodale Press, page 65

   2 more examples

   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.

   1895, Richard Lydekker, editor, The Royal Natural History, Volume 3, Frederick Warne & Co., page 440

   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.

   1996, The Nebraska Bird Review, Volumes 64-69, Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, page 156

   Synonyms: nuthacker, nutjobber, nutpecker

In a sentence

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.

1895, Richard Lydekker, editor, The Royal Natural History, Volume 3, Frederick Warne & Co., page 440

Where it comes from

1. Middle Englishnutthache
2. Englishnuthatch

From Middle English nutthache, notehache, nuthake, nuttehake, nothak, equivalent to nut + hatch (akin to hack). Compare English nutcracker. Compare typologically Polish kowalik (akin to kować).