SMALLER BRITISH LAND BIRDS FOR A MUSEUM. 51 



its neck about as before, and again sprang up to peck. But these 

 manoeuvres must be witnessed ; no description can convey any notion 

 of their singularity, their stiffness, their absolutely unnatural appear- 

 ance ; as before observed, it seemed to resemble a piece of clockwork, 

 much more than it did a living bird. The long tongue of the wryneck, 

 as in the woodpecker, is darted forth by means of a peculiar annular 

 muscle, and returns, not by any play of muscle, but simply by 

 the elasticity of its tendons ; no other contrivance would admit 

 of the rapidity with which it moves, so great as to elude the 

 sight, its insect food appearing to be drawn up into its mouth by 

 attraction. The reader will pardon, I hope, the length of this 

 and other similar digressions, for the interest which they possess ; 

 and the more especially as the subject matter of this paper is rather 

 dry and tedious. A few more words on the wryneck, and I have done 

 with it. The species is exceedingly abundant in this part of Surrey ; 

 so much so, that in the spring, when their frequently repeated call 

 betrays their presence, two or three dozen might easily be procured in a 

 few hours. This call, which much resembles the cry of several hawks, 

 and may be expressed by the sound pee-up repeated nine or ten times in 

 quick succession, is always answered by, and generally attracts to the 

 spot, every wryneck within hearing ; but not, as far as I have been able 

 to ascertain, with any hostile intentions. Several may thus often be 

 seen assembled on a few contiguous trees, calling to each other by turns 

 for half an hour together, the voices of the females being easily distin- 

 guished, by being in a higher key than those of the males. From the 

 beauty of their plumage they are in high request among the London 

 collectors, who take advantage of this habit, by imitating their cry with 

 a kind of mouth-whistle, a method by which many unfortunate birds 

 are lured to their destruction. The wryneck is remarkably tenacious 

 of its nest, or rather of the hole which it has itself excavated in a 

 decaying tree ; for it forms no nest, but lays its eggs on the soft saw- 

 dust-like chips at the bottom of the hole. I have known every egg to 

 be taken away the morning after it was laid, and yet the bird to con- 

 tinue laying her whole number in the same hole, and afterwards to 

 resort to the same place to lay her second lot. Even if caught in it 

 several times, she will not forsake it ; but on being loosened, will often 

 fly direct to the spot. 



The common cuckoo is generally in fine plumage during its short stay 

 in this country; even the female, being exempt from the ordinary 

 duties of incubation, is almost always in a fit state for stuffing. Speci- 



H 2 



