HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



107 



there are a great many curious varieties 'and modi- 

 fications ia the : structure of the foot, yet the 

 same principle is held throughout. It can clearly 

 be comprehended that the foot has two bearings, 

 as it were, in front and behind, so that the bird can 

 walk up a perpendicular pole, or lengthwise on a 

 thin branch, the nails being very sharp in the Wry- 

 neck ; it can even cling to a wall if there is the 

 smallest crevice to get a hold with. There is 

 abundance of food for birds that can be attained 

 only by walking or perching in this manner. Insects 

 are there lurking beneath the bark and in the 

 crevices of trees, which would do serious damage 

 if there were no birds to keep them down ; hence 

 we see how essential it is that they should have 

 this peculiarity of structure, and it is a good ex- 

 ample how apparently little difference from that 

 which answers one purpose, may answer a very 

 different one. The legs are placed behind the 

 centre of gravity, so that the bird sits very 

 upright on the branch to which it clings, or its 

 body is thrown backwards, so that the weight of 

 the bird assists in compressing the claws into the 

 fissures of the bark, and presses the tail under them ; 

 thus using it as a prop, without that exertion of 

 the body which would prevent the free use of the 

 beak. This last organ, in the case of the Wryneck, 

 is not thick and strong, as it is in the Woodpecker, 

 in which case it is used for tearing up the bark in 

 search of insects ; but, as was said before, weak 

 and pointed, and does not assist it in finding 

 its nourishment, but is the sheath of a large 

 tongue, which it can protrude for quite an inch, 

 darting it into the crevices of bark and ant-hills, 

 aud retracting it with the rapidity of [lightning 

 covered with struggling ants, which stick to its 

 viscous humidity. The point of the tongue is 

 horny, and it is in conjunction with the bill 

 that it is used for disturbing their dwellings, 

 which readily brings them out to ascertain the 

 cause of destruction, or to reconnoitre their per- 

 secutor, when they are very soon picked off. The 

 structure for the extension of the tongue is very 

 similar to that of the Woodpecker : two powerful 

 muscles rise from the root,! and after stretching 

 from the crown of the head and enclosing the 

 larynx, are inserted in the front. 



The nest-building propensities of the Wryneck 

 are anything but extensive. At the time of in- 

 cubation'a hole in an old tree is chosen, and perhaps 

 it may be enlarged or altered in any way to adapt it to 

 circumstances ; yet it is quite a mistake, as some 

 suppose, that the bird wholly excavates the recess 

 for itself : this would be a thorough impossibility, on 

 account of the extreme frailty of the bill. The bottom 

 of the hole is lined with the debris caused by en- 

 larging the sides ; then the eggs are deposited with- 

 out any further preparation, which are about ten in 

 number, snow-white, and large as a sparrow's in size. 



It is a curious fact, that a bird which lays such 

 a number of eggs, should be so local and scantily 

 spread. It is true that it appears throughout all 

 Europe, from the southern states to Sweden, and is 

 even said to be in Bengal and some other parts of 

 India; but this should be a cause of increasing, 

 rather than diminishing their numbers. Perhaps 

 the nest generally being in a situation so easy to gain 

 access to (averaging from five to eight feet, from the 

 ground), may often be pillaged by those predaceous 

 creatures, which so highly relish the dainty morsels 

 which it contains ; or, again, as an intelligent 

 ornithologist states, " The ants which the Wryneck 

 finds in those localities which it frequents, are exceed- 

 ingly numei'ous when the weather is favourable, 

 but are rather uncertain, from their extreme sensi- 

 bility, and the great degree which the maturing of 

 their eggs depends on the state of the atmosphere. 

 Hence, we can easily see .that the fate of a bird 

 which is in a great measure, if not entirely, de- 

 pendent on a summer production, aud that pro- 

 duction very much under the influence of the 

 weather, must ofteu be reduced to extremities, and 

 is probably as liable to suffer from contingencies in 

 its winter retreats, wherever they may be." 



In conclusion, *I may state that this bird has 

 never been known to live more 1 than a few weeks 

 in confinement. In the first place, the proper food 

 is very difficult to be obtained ; and, secondly, when 

 it is offered, the bird rejects it. A Prench gentleman 

 once procured a mother, together with the nest 

 and young : they were fed on paste made of bread 

 and cheese, and lived nearly three weeks, by which 

 time they became quite tame, and would even eat 

 out of his hand. But when they grew larger, they 

 seemed to fall into a languid state, and refused the 

 usual paste, and as ants could not be procured for 

 them, they died one after the other of hunger. 



Woolwich. C. P. Hall. 



ON THE GROWTH OP THE WILLOW 

 [Salix alba), 



WITH NOTICES OP SOME CURIOUS TREES OP THAT 

 SPECIES. 



By Edwin Lees, P.L.S. 



IT was a saying of the celebrated eremitish cou- 

 templator and lover of solitude, as well as pro- 

 moter of monastic life, St. Bernard, that he had 

 learned more from trees than men ; and no doubt 

 the naturalist with any poetical feeling in his tem- 

 perament might well echo such a sentiment. But 

 the physiological botanist, who looks about him in 

 the woods and on the banks of streams, may also 

 pick up some knowledge from studying the growth 

 of trees ; and even the common Willow {Salix alba) 

 can show some very curious instances in its mode of 

 growth and resuscitation. As a tree, its allotted life 



