lYNGINiE. 



271 



THE WRYNECK. 



Iynx torqui'lla, Linnaeus. 



This bird resembles the Nightjars in its delicately pencilled 

 plumage, though allied to the Woodpeckers in its structure. It is 

 a regular spring-visitor to England, sometimes arriving in the south 

 by the middle of March, though usually about the first half of April; 

 whence the names " Cuckoo's-mate " or " Cuckoo's-leader," which 

 have their equivalent in several European languages. In the south- 

 eastern counties it is more numerous than in the west, while it is 

 rare in Wales ; Lancashire has seldom been visited by it of late 

 years, and to Cumberland it is now merely a straggler ; in Yorkshire 

 and Durham it is very local, and it becomes rare in Northumberland. 

 Statements that it has nested in Scotland require confirmation, but 

 at intervals it has been known to occur in Caithness, the Orkneys, 

 and the Shetlands ; while it visits the entire east coast on the spring 

 and autumn migrations. In Ireland it has been taken in co. Water- 

 ford in October 1877 ; on Aran Island, off Galway Bay, on October 

 6th 1886 ; in co. Wicklow, May 1895 ; at Rockabill in September 

 1896, and probably in Donegal in October 1878. By the latter part 

 of September it has usually left England for the south, but there are 

 assertions that the bird has been seen and heard in winter. 



