WRYNECK. 67 
says, will eat elderberries. Montagu kept one for a short 
time, and he observed that the tongue is darted forward and 
retracted with unerring aim, and at the same time with such 
velocity, ‘that an ant’s egg, which is of a light colour, and 
more conspicuous than the tongue, has somewhat the appear- 
ance of moving towards the mouth by attraction, as a needle 
flies to a magnet.’ The young are fed with caterpillars, ants, 
and their eggs. 
The note is peculiar, and somewhat resembles that of the 
Kestrel, Hobby, and other smaller species of Hawk. It is 
rendered by the words ‘good, good, good,’ ‘cue, cue, cue, cue,’ 
or ‘qui, qui,’ and an abrupt ‘shick,’ the former before the 
young brood are hatched, and the latter afterwards, but only 
‘sotto voce.’ 
The nest is placed in a hole of a tree, the mouldered wood 
of which seems to supply its chief, or only lining, or rather, 
layer. The apple tree is frequently chosen. It is made of 
small roots, and the old nest of a Woodpecker or some other 
bird would appear to be sometimes adapted, and in some 
slight degree fashioned with its bill to its own use by the 
Wryneck. It domiciles at various heights from the ground, 
and various depths from the surface of the tree, often close 
to a road side, in view of every passer by. 
The eggs, from six or seven to nine or ten in number, are 
pure white. Mr. Salmon relates, that having removed the 
nest of a pair of these birds, in quest of their eggs, and 
having replaced it, on finding that it did not contain any, 
they still resorted to it, and he obtained successively from 
it, though the nest was necessarily again taken out, the several 
numbers of five, six, four, and seven eggs. The poor bird 
thus, according to this inveterate and unrelenting bird-nester, 
‘suffered her nest to be disturbed five times, and the eggs, 
(amounting altogether to twenty-two,) to be taken away at 
four different periods within the month before she finally 
abandoned the spot she had selected.’ The young are 
hatched in about fourteen days, and the female bird is so 
much attached to them, that she may easily be taken, not 
only while sitting on the eggs, but even after the young are 
hatched and fledged. The same spot is resorted to year after 
ear. 
; Male; weight, about ten drachms; length, about seven 
inches, or seven and a half; bill, yellowish brown; iris, 
chesnut brown; head, hoary grey, with a tinge of yellow or 
