WRYNECK. 103 



tongue, has somewhat the appearance of moving towards the 

 mouth by attraction, as a needle flies to a magnet. The bill is 

 rarely used except to remove the mould in order to get more 

 readily at these insects ; where the earth is hollow, the tongue 

 is thrust into all the cavities to rouse the ants ; for this pur- 

 pose the horny appendage is extremely serviceable, as a guide 

 to the tongue. We have seen the Green Woodpecker take its 

 food in a similar manner ; and most probably every species of 

 that genus does the same." 



" Shy and unusually timid," says Mr Knapp, " as if all its 

 life were spent in the deepest retirement, away from man, it 

 remains through the day on some ditch-bank, or basks with 

 seeming enjoyment, in any sunny hour, on the ant hills nearest 

 to its retreat ; and these it depopulates for food, by means of 

 its long, glutinous tongue, which, with the insects, collects 

 much of the soil of the heaps, as we find a much larger portion 

 of grit in its stomach than is usually met with in that of other 

 birds. When disturbed, it escapes by a flight precipitate and 

 awkward, hides itself from our sight, and, were not its haunts 

 and habits known, we should never conjecture that this bust- 

 ling fugitive was our long-forgotten spring visitant, the Wry- 

 neck." 



But although it thus frequents the ground in quest of food, 

 it also searches the trunks and branches of trees, and has been 

 observed clinging to walls. " l^^once," says a correspondent in 

 the Magazine of Natural History, Vol. IV, p. 450, " saw it 

 climb the perpendicular face of an old tall wall in the botanic 

 garden at Bury St. Edmund's ; it was seeking either insects 

 or grit, and proceeded as if in neither haste nor fear, but uttered 

 its hawk-like note at intervals." This note is a shrill cry, 

 which has been compared to the scream of the Kestrel, and 

 which is more frequently heard in the earlier period of its so- 

 journ with us. 



From its appearing about the same time as the Cuckoo, it is 

 named in various parts of England, the Cuckoo's mate, maid, 

 attendant, or messenger. The name of Wryneck is derived 

 from its habit of moving its head and neck in various direc- 

 tions, and probably was originally Writhencck, corresponding 



