WRYNECK. i Ue bs 
were apparently only two or three days old, and were 
a few inches from the broken egg-shells. On July 2nd 
they were eight or ten feet from the egg-shells, and 
altered their position each time they were inspected. 
The feathers were just beginning to show through the 
brown down. On being disturbed, the female rose and 
fluttered along close above the bracken, with outspread 
tail and drooping wings, dropping on an oak bough, 
and uttering a chuck of alarm. The young were silent, 
even when handled, though when first found by Mr. 
Graves they repeatedly uttered a low note. When 
crouching beneath the brooding female, the young 
always had their heads facing in an opposite direction 
to their parent. On July 2nd, the rictal bristles of 
the young still retained plumose tips, but five days 
later these tips had been shed and the bristles were 
longer. Though well feathered on July 7th, and able 
to scramble about on the ground with surprising 
agility, the young birds exhibited no signs of pectina- 
tion on the claws. 
FAMILY PICIDA.—SUB-FAMILY IYNGINA, 
WRYNECK. 
IyNxX TORQUILLA, Linnzus. 
The Wryneck is a scarce summer visitor to the 
north-west of England, and has been but seldom ob- 
served in Cheshire. Byerley states, on the authority 
of Mr. Webster, that the bird has bred at Saughall 
Massey.1 Mr. J. E. Smith, writing in 1874, says that 
‘no specimens of the Wryneck have been seen in 
Cheshire since 1818 [?1868], when one nested in 
1 Byerley, op. cit. p. 16. 
