i8 The Irish Naturalist. [January, 



The Wrj-neck, like the British woodpeckers and cuckoos, 

 has two toes before and two behind. It has a very long 

 glutinous and slender tongue which it can thrust out to a 

 great length. 



Authorities differ on describing its note, which is said by 

 Seebohm to " bear some resemblance to the word vite uttered 

 several times in succession." Dresser likens its note to the 

 syllables " hvesd hveed hvccd^' Saunders gives it as *' qui qui qui 

 ox pay pay pay,'' Newton as ''que que qice^ and Harting as 

 " dear dear dear.'' 



Seebohm says (•' History of British Birds," vol. ii., p. 375) : 

 " The Wryneck is one of those birds that by a little judicious 

 management may be induced to lay an extraordinary number 

 of eggs in a single season. Like the Starling, the hen bird 

 will continue to lay after her eggs are removed, and many 

 instances are on record of great numbers of eggs having 

 been taken from a single nest. In 1872 Mr. Frank Norgate 

 took forty- two eggs from one nest of this bird in an old stump. 

 In 1873 the female again laid fort3^-two eggs ; but in 1874 her 

 reproductive powers were apparently exhausted, only one o^gg 

 was laid, and in 1875 the place was deserted." 



Northumberland-road, Dublin. 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



INSECTS. 



The Male of Vespa austriaca Panz, 



In an article in the In'sh Naturalist, November, 1897, vol. vi., p. 2S5, 

 IVIr. TI. K. G. Cuthbert says " No collector of Aculeate Hymenoptera 

 in Great Britain or Ireland has yet met with the male of V. arborea, 

 although the males of all our other indigenous Vcspa are well known." 

 If Mr. Cuthbert will kindly refer to the Entoiiiohgist's Monthly Magazine. 

 September, 1896 (2), vol. vii., p. 212, he will see that an example of 

 the male has been met with by myself in this district ; and its specific 

 identity was confirmed by Mr. Kdward Saunders. 



Bloxworth, Dorset. O. PiCKArd Cambridge. 



