10 THE BIRDS OF COOKHAM AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
Sub-fam. Yuncine. 
Yunx. 
24. Yunx torquilla. The Wryneck. 
As I have noticed under the head of the Cuckoo, this bird is 
much commoner some seasons than others. Mr. Briggs has often 
remarked the curious way in which the Wryneck contorts his 
neck, but he says the most remarkable instance of this peculiarity 
he ever observed was in a wounded bird, which twisted and 
elongated its neck in an extraordinary manner. He has found 
its nest at Formosa more than once. 
Fam. Upvuripm. 
Upupa. 
Upupa epops. The Hoopoe. 
Mr. Briggs has seen one specimen of this bird killed in the 
neighbourhood some years ago. Another was shot at Walling- 
ford in June, 1867. 
Order PASSERES. 
Fam. Luscrnipz. 
Sub-fam. Luscininm. 
Luscinia. 
25. Luscinia philomela. The Nightingale. 
The success which has of late years attended the efforts of 
those who have endeavoured to keep the Nightingale in confine- 
ment has no doubt contributed to the increasing rarity of the 
species. Of the thousands sent annually to London, very few 
certainly live long, and of those who survive the period of the 
autumnal migration, by far the major part succumb to the first 
severity of the weather. We do, however, meet with birds who 
have managed to live through our English winters, and no one 
whom I have met with is more successful in preserving them 
alive than Lovegrove, the turnpike keeper on Maidenhead 
Thicket, at whose house there are almost always sure to be some. 
There are some parts about Cookham where the Nightingale 
comes every year to enliven our ears with its beautiful song, and 
from Formosa they may be heard in the Cliefden Woods any 
summer evening. I remember once standing in Mr. Burrows’ 
grounds, and distinctly counting six nightingales singing, some 
