250 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Genus lYNX. 



WEYNECK. 



lynx torquilla, Linnaeus. S.N., i., p. 172 (1766). 

 Cuckoo's Mate, Snake-Bird. 



The well-known "Snake-Bird" after its arrival be- 

 comes sparingly distributed over the county, and is 

 generally found in the old woods and orchards, which 

 are well stocked with old gnarled stumps and half- 

 decayed trees, in which the bird can find holes and large 

 cavities for a nesting place. The following dates have 

 been noted of the arrival of this bird in Kent : April 3, 

 1865 ; April 16, 1867 ; April 6, 1868 ; April 11, 1869 ; 

 April 9, 1870 ; April 2, 1902 ; April 8 and 14, 1906. 



The Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett wrote the following 

 note on the Wryneck in 1844: "A few years since I 

 discovered in a hole in an old ash tree a single white 

 egg, without any trace of nest. Not knowing at the 

 time what egg it was, I supposed the nest had been 

 taken, and that this was an egg laid afterwards, as it not 

 infrequently happens with some birds, that when a nest 

 has been torn and robbed of its eggs, if the full number 

 had not previously been laid, an egg is deposited after- 

 wards, but of course generally neglected. But this is 

 not always the case, as I recollect an instance of a Hedge- 

 Sparrow {Accentor modular is) sitting in a most per- 

 severing manner on an egg which had been laid on the 

 foundation of its nest, the lining and eggs having been 

 taken. Acting on this supposition, I took the egg, and 

 on passing the tree the next day, had the curiosity to 

 look into the hole, where, to my surprise, I found another 

 egg ; this I also took, and from that time the tree was 



