i6 at,t,f,n'^ naturalist's librarv. 



THE WRYNECKS. GENUS lYNX. 



Yiinx, Linn. Syst Nat. i. p. 172 (1766). 



Type, / toi'ijuilla (L.), 



Only four species of Wryneck are known, three of which 

 are resident in Africa and pecuhar to that continent. These 

 are /. ^ccforalis, which ranges from Natal to the Transvaal, and 

 the Congo Region in tlie west, 1. p2/Ichn'co//is, confined to the 

 Upper White Nile districts, and /. ccquatorialis, from Shoa and 

 Southern Abyssinia. The fourth species is the Wryneck of 

 Europe. 



I. THE COMMON WRYNECK. lYNX TORQUILLA. 



Yunx torquilla, Linn. S. N. i. p. 172 (1766) ; Macg. Br. iii. p. 



100 (1840). 

 lynx torqitilla, Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 103, pi. 289 (1875); 



Newton, ed. Yarr. Br. B. ii. p. 487 (1881) ; B. O. U. List 



Br. B. p. 80 (1883) ; Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 372 (1884) ; 



Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 261 (1889); Hargitt, Cat. B. 



Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 560 (1890). 



Adult Male. — General colour above variegated, brown and grey 

 and rufous with black markings and vermiculations, including 

 the tail, the latter grey with irregular bars of white and black ; 

 the scapularies and inner secondaries rather more rufous than 

 the back, with black median stripes ; sides of face and sides 

 of neck, throat, and chest, buff with narrow bars of black, the 

 chin whiter ; a whitish streak above the ear-coverts, which are 

 rufous-brown, barred with black ; under-parts creamy-white, 

 with a shade of rufous on the upper breast and sides of the 

 body and thighs, with black arrow-head shaped markings or 

 spots ; under tail-coverts buff, with faint black markings ; 

 " bill, feet, and claws pale greyish-brown ; iris light brown " 

 {W. Macgillivray). Total length, 6-5 inches; culmen, o-6; 

 wing, 3-35 : tail, 2-6; tarsus, 07. 



Adult Female. — Similar in colour to the male. Total length, 

 6-5 inches; wing, 3-15. 



Young. — Similar to the adults, but without any spots on the 

 abdomen. 



