1898.] Gyles. — The l^ryneck in tr eland, 17 



After an interval of nine j^ears a fourth Irish specimen was 

 added to the list. An adult Wryneck was shot on the 31st of 

 May, 1895, at Ballycurry, Ashford, Co. Wicklow, by one of 

 Colonel Tottenham's game-keepers. It was set up by Mr. 

 Williams of Dublin, who received it in the flesh from Colonel 

 Tottenham, and it is now at Ballycurry. 



In the following year — on the 8th of September, 1896, an 

 adult Wryneck in beautiful plumage was sent to Mr. Bar- 

 rington from Rockabill lyight-house, five miles off the coast 

 of Dublin. Mr. H. Kelly, light-keeper, in the letter which 

 accompanied this specimen, says that it '* was killed against 

 the Light on the 5th instant, east wind, hazy at the time." 

 This specimen is also at Fassaroe. 



According to Saunders and others, the Wryneck is a summer 

 visitor to England and the Continent, going north as far as 

 Scandinavia and Finland, and Archangel in Russia. It 

 winters in Africa, Burma, and India. 



Its other common English names are " Cuckoo's-mate," 

 " Cuckoo's messenger," and " Cuckoo's-leader," for the reason 

 that it usually precedes the Cuckoo by a few days; and "Snake- 

 bird," partly from its curious habit of elongating and turning 

 its neck, and partly from the hissing sound it makes when 

 disturbed on its nest. Dresser says (vol. v., p. 107, " Birds 

 of Europe ") that " when taken in the hand it contorts its 

 body, and makes such hideous grimaces, and hisses so loudl}^ 

 as to frighten anyone unacquainted with the bird, and its 

 curious habits. It will stretch out its neck to the fullest 

 extent and turn its head till the beak is now directed forward 

 and now backward as if the head were placed the wrong 

 way." 



It is an insect-eating bird, ants and their eggs being its 

 chief and favourite food. In plumage it more closely re- 

 sembles the Nightjar than any other British bird. 



The chequer-like markings on the primaries, and the curious 

 mingling of soft ash-grey, brown, black, and yellow of other 

 parts of its plumage — closely resembling the bloom on some 

 moths' wings— are very beautiful. Its plumage is an instance 

 of protective colouration, rendering the bird more or less 

 difficult to distinguish from the lichen-covered bark of trees. 



