CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 319 



specimen in the case was, I think, shot in a fruit 

 tree in some private gardens in the Caterham 

 Valley, not far from the spot where I got the Tree- 

 creepers. 



In the breeding-season the Wryneck has a very 

 loud call, sounding to me like " Qui, qui, qui, qui," 

 which is sustained for several seconds, and repeated 

 so quickly that I did not find it very difficult to 

 locate my bird, when once he commenced his note. 

 It is unlike anything I ever heard, and fixed itself 

 so much upon my memory that now I can tell the 

 bird anywhere, even though I may not be able to 

 see him. On taking the bird in my hand after 

 shooting, his tongue protruded out of his mouth, I 

 should think, to the extent of one and a half inches ? 

 which rather surprised me. 



With regard to this wonderful tongue, Howard 

 Saunders says: "The food consists chiefly of ants 

 and their pupse, which the bird seeks on the ground, 

 shooting with marvellous velocity its long retractile, 

 vermiform tongue (covered with a glutinous 

 secretion) into ant-hills ; in autumn it is said to eat 

 elder-berries." With regard to the nesting-habits, he 

 says : " About the middle of May it makes use of 

 any convenient hole in a tree at no great height ; 

 occasionally in an earth cutting or sand-bank. The 

 eggs are usually from seven to ten in number, but 

 the bird has been induced to go on laying until, in a 

 case recorded by Mr. Frank Norgate, the maximum 

 of forty-two was reached ; they are pure white, 

 rather larger, less glossy, and thinner in shell than 



