I054 



WYPE 



The very unmistakable note of the Wryneck, without having 

 any musical merit, is always pleasant to hear as a harbinger of 

 spring. It is merely a repetition of what may be syllabled qiie, que, 

 que, many times in succession, rapidly uttered at first, but gi-adually 

 slowing and in a continually falling key. This, however, is only 

 heard during a few weeks, and for the rest of the bird's stay in 

 Europe it seems to be mute. It feeds almost exclusively on insects, 

 especially on ants, and may often be seen on the ground, busily 

 engaged at their nests. Somewhat larger than a Sparrow, its 

 plumage is not easily described, being beautifully variegated with 

 black, brown, buff and grey — the last produced by minute specks 

 of blackish-brown on a light ground — the darker markings disposed 

 in patches, vermiculated bars, freckles, streaks or arrow-heads — and 

 the whole blended most harmoniously, so as to recall the coloration 

 of a Nightjar or of a Woodcock. The Wryneck builds no nest, 

 but commonly lays its translucent Avhite eggs on the bare wood of a 

 hole in a tree, and it is one of the few wild birds that, by abstracting 

 its eggs day after day, will go on laying, and thus upwards of forty 

 have been taken from a single hole — but the proper complement is 

 from six to ten.-"^ As regards Britain, the bird seems to be becoming 

 rarer, owing probably to the destruction of hollow trees in orchards, 

 but is most common in the south-east, its numbers decreasing rapidly 

 towards the west and north, so that in CornAvall and Wales and 

 beyond Cheshire and Yorkshire its occurrence is but rare, while it 

 appears only by accident in Scotland and Ireland. 



Three other species of lynx are recognized by IVIr. Hargitt 

 {Cat. B. Br. Mus. xviii. p. 560), the so-called I. japonica being in- 

 distinguishable from /. torquilla ; while that designated, through a 

 mistake in the locality assigned to it, I. mdica, is identical with the 

 /. pedoralis of South Africa. Near to this is /. pulchricoUis, discovered 

 by Emin Pasha in the east of the Bar-el-Djebel (Ibis, 1884, p. 28, pi. 

 iii.). Another distinct African species is the /. seqitatorialis, originally 

 described from Abyssinia. As already stated (Woodpecker, p. 1049), 

 they form a subfamily lynginse of the Picidse, from the more normal 

 groups of which they differ but little in internal structure, but much 

 in coloration and in having the tail-quills flexible, or at least not 

 stiffened to serve as props as in the climbing Picinx. 



WYPE (Sw. Vipa) often Pie-wype, a name of the Lapwing. 



tlie bird as a love-charm, to whicli several classical writers refer, as Pindar {Pijtli. 

 iv. 214 ; Ncm. iv. 35), Theocritus (iv. 17, 30), and Xenophon {Memorabilia, iii. 

 xi. 17, 18). In one part at least of China a name, Shay-ling, signifj'ing "Snake's 

 neck," is given to it {Ibis, 1875, p. 125). 



^ Dr. Giinther {Ibis, 1890, p. 411) has noticed a curious pad, beset with 

 lubercles, on the heel of the newly-hatched bird. 



