262 WRYNECK. 



about 64° N. lat., and in Russia it visits Archangel ; but across 

 Siberia to Kamschatka its range does not extend so far north. In 

 summer it inhabits the Japanese islands, as well as suitable localities 

 on the mainland of Asia down to the Himalayas and the Altai 

 Mountains ; while in the cold season it visits India and Burma. 

 In Africa its winter-quarters extend to Kordofan, but it appears 

 probable that a limited number go no further than Algeria ; some 

 may even remain in the south of Europe, where, however, the 

 bird is chiefly known on passage; while in summer it is generally 

 distributed over the rest of the Continent. 



Unlike the Woodpeckers, the Wryneck does not excavate a nest- 

 ing-place for itself, but about the middle of May it makes use of 

 any convenient hole in a tree, at no great height ; occasionally 

 in an earth-cutting or sandbank. The eggs are usually from 7-10 

 in number, but the bird has been induced to go on laying, until in 

 a case recorded by Mr. Frank Norgate, the maximum of 42 was 

 reached ; they are pure white, rather larger, less glossy, and thinner 

 in shell than those of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker : average 

 measurements "8 by "6 in. When disturbed, the sitting bird 

 makes a loud hissing, calculated to induce the belief that a snake is 

 concealed in the hole — a practice which has led to the popular name 

 of ' Snake-bird ' ; it also erects the feathers of the head, twisting its 

 neck about in a way which is equally characteristic of the above 

 name, and when taken in the hand it will often feign death. Its 

 loud note, which somewhat resembles that of a Kestrel, and may be 

 syllabled as qiii^ qui, qui, ox pay, pay, pay, is heard from the time of 

 the bird's arrival until midsummer. The food consists almost 

 entirely of insects — many of them obtained on the trunks and 

 branches of trees — but chiefly of ants and their pupse, which the bird 

 seeks on the ground, shooting with marvellous velocity its long, re- 

 tractile, vermiform tongue (covered with a glutinous secretion) into 

 ant-hills ; in autumn it is said to eat elder-berries. In its habits the 

 Wryneck is skulking and unobtrusive; its flight is short and undulating. 

 The general colour of the upper parts is greyish-white, mottled 

 with brownish-grey, and streaked on the nape, back and scapulars 

 with brownish-black ; wing-feathers dark brown with buff" bars on 

 the outer webs ; tail-feathers soft at the tips, greyish-brown barred 

 with black ; throat warm buff" with narrow black bars ; breast and 

 flanks dull white with small spots and bars. Length 7 in. ; wing 

 3 "4 in. The female is rather smaller and duller in plumage than 

 the male ; the young are more strongly marked with blackish-brown 

 on the under parts. 



