Boole Notices and Reviews. 



121 



" that it can be confounded with none of the natural sounds of 



' the country ; a loud, 

 ' rapid, liarsh cry on 

 ' one note, repeated 

 ' several times by a l)ird 

 ' about the size of a 

 ' lark may be re ferried 

 ' without hesitation to 

 ' the Wryneck. Yet it 

 " is a pleasant sound 

 'after all, for the un- 

 ' tuneful minstrel is the 

 " pame bird which is 

 ■' iknown by the name 

 " of " Cuckoo's Mate," 

 " ,and so is associated 

 " 'with May days .... 

 " This name it derives 



" because it 



" both arrives and de- 

 " parts with the Cuckoo. 



" In haljits 



THE WRYNECK. " It bcars no marked re- 



Sem.blance to the Woodpeckers; it is not much given to cUmbjng 

 anu never taps the trunks of trees; yet it does seek its 

 food on decayed trees and employs its long horney tongue for 

 that purpose It indeed, dai ts its tongue with in- 

 conceivable rapidity into an ant-hill and brings it out as rapidly 

 with the insects and their eggs adhering to its viscid point. 

 These constitute its principal food, so that it is seen more 

 frequently feeding on the ground than hunting on trees 

 .... Besides this, the proper call -note of the bird, it 

 utters, when disturbed in its nest, another which resembles a 

 jhiss; whence, and partly, i>erhaps, on account of the peculiar 

 structure of its neck, it is somieldmes called tlie Snake-bird. 

 Nest, properly speaking, it has none; it selects a hole in a 



decaying tree and lays its eggs on the rotten wood 



The Wryneck is a common bird in the south-eastern counties 

 of England, and to the west as far as Someirseit; but I have 

 never heard its note in Devon or Cornwall ;■ it is rare also in 

 the northern counties. 



The foregoing- will indicate the scope of the work and 

 its interesting and practical character. Though too large for 

 the pocket, it is not unwieldy and certainly not too large to 

 form a pleasant companion in many a country jaunt. To the 

 young student of the birds of his native country, it should 



