YUNX TORQUILLA.

Wryneck.

Yunex torquilla Linnei et auctorum.

 

PR ana edie ee oe ;
Wrynecx, Cuckoo’s mate, Snake-bird! How shall I commence its history ? For its every action and whole

economy are as singular as the markings of its plumage are chaste and beautiful. Mate of the Cuckoo it
has been called, because it arrives in the spring

, foretelling, like that bird, that summer is near at hand.
Its peculiar cry

is known to every cottager, and welcome is its monotonous and repeated call of pee, pee, pee.
Africa, which it has lately left, is its winter residence ; but as the sun advances towards the north, it follows

in his path, well knowing that it will find a congenial home in Great Britain. | What, if I depict it in one of
its grotesque attitudes, when it writhes its head, snake-like, from side to side, with its neck contracted to the size
of a quill; or in the period of courtship, when, with erected crest, drooping wings, and outspread tail, it is
bowing and coquetting before the object of its attention? If I had portrayed it thus, it would scarcely have
been recognized. The accompanying illustration presents the Wryneck mated and sobered down for the
important duty of reproduction ; the hollow branch will afford the eggs and young birds protection from all
intruders, and enable it to rear its numerous progeny to an age when they may wing their way to the distant
lands from which the parents had lately arrived.

Not only is the Wryneck a summer visitant to Great Britain ; for in all, or nearly all, of the countries of the
Old World lying under the same parallel of latitude is it to be found, even as far east as India, China, and Japan,
from all of which countries, as well as from Western Asia, I possess specimens ; it will be obvious, therefore, that
few birds are more widely distributed. In the British Islands, where the Wryneck arrives at the latter end of
March or the beginning of April, it is very generally, though not universally, dispersed over all the southern
and midland counties, gradually becoming scarce and scarcer still until we reach the border-line of England
and Scotland, which may be considered the extent of its range in that direction. I believe it to be more
common in the eastern part of England than in the western. Mr. Rodd, in his “ List of British Birds, as a
Guide to the Ornithology of Cornwall,” states that it is ‘* rare in all parts of the county ; occasionally observed
in the neighbourhood of Penzance in the autumn, near the coast, probably preparing for migration.” In
Ireland it is unknown. Having remained with us during the summer, and reared its progeny, it departs
southward again in August and September, passing through Spain to its winter abode in Morocco. I know
that the Wryneck is occasionally found in the neighbourhood of Rome and at Marseilles in winter ; but doubtless
the same great migratory movement takes place on the continent of Europe as in England ; indeed, I know that
such isthe case. Always solitary and recluse in its habits, its presence would rarely be detected by any but the
most keen observer, were it not for its peculiar and loud ery, which, once heard, can never be forgotten. I
know of no bird whose colours are less attractive at a distance, or whose flight, when it rises from the ground,
from the rail of a fence, or from the bole of a tree, is more like that of a Sparrow; and hence, when flying, it
seldom attracts notice ; but when closely watched, especially during the pairing-time, as before stated, it will be
seen that it performs a number of singular and extraordinary evolutions. Like the Woodpecker, the Wryneck
has a tongue equal in length to that of its entire body ; and truly complete must Be the muscular arrangement
connected with an organ which the bird has the power of protruding and coma at will » such an extent
that the deepest interstices of the bark of trees, as well as the terrestrial ant-hill, are probed with ease. ees
and their larvae, ants and their eggs, constitute, I believe, the principal food of the Wryneck ; and beautifully,
indeed, is its whole structure adapted for obtaining this kind of diet. was

«The anatomical construction of the tongue,” says Mr. Yarrell, “ and the consequent mode of taking its
food, will amply repay the closest examination. By an elongation of the bye postemen branches of the bones
of the tongue, and the exercise of the muscles attached to them, this bird 1s able to se eee
very considerable distance beyond the point of the beak ; the end of the tongue is horny a hard; a ae
and long gland is situated at the under edge of the lower Jaw on each side, which secretes a g ee
and transfers it to the inside of the mouth by a slender duct. ae this glutinous mucus the end o the
always covered for the especial purpose of conveying food into the mouth by contact. So unerring

tongue is
- tongue is darted out, and so certain the effect of the adhesive moisture, that the bird

is the aim with which the ‘ : : a
never fails in obtaining its object at every attempt. So rapid also is the action of the tongue in thus con-
ft é 5 i : | ree. : :
veying food into the mouth, that the eye is unable distinctly to follow it ; and Colonel Montagu, who had an

5 eo

=“ F C ‘ ee . a re So . ur
ppot tunity of seeing this bird feed while confined na cage, says that an ants egg, Ww hich is ofa heht colour,
oO * 5 ° Sie ae Parenlic the eT
i rile ya pearance of moving towards the mouth by

and more conspicuous than the tongue, had somewhat the appeare g

o 3 ”
attraction, as a needle flies to a magnet.