LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER.— WRYNECK. 175 



more rarely seen, and, were it not for the constant jarring of 

 the bill against the branches, might altogether escape notice. 

 In the breeding-season, although it probably nests in the 

 higher parts of trees as well, it occasionally makes its hole 

 quite low down in a fruit-tree, and sometimes close to a 

 dwelling, and this, as might be expected, is very small, little 

 exceeding an inch and a quarter in diameter. Its food con- 

 sists entirely of insects, and I have never seen it on the 

 ground. It has a loud note, lescmbliug kink, kink, often 

 repeated, as it sits upright on the topmost shoot of a tree. 

 It does not seem to have any local name in this county. 



WRYNECK. 



li/na; torquilla. 



Arriving in April a little before the Cuckoo, the Wryneck 

 has obtained the name of the " Cuckoo-'s Mate,-"^ and its note, 

 much resembling that of the Kestrel, is one of the earliest 

 to be heard. It is also called in Sussex the ''Peel Bird" 

 or "Rinding Bird,''^ from its giving notice that it is time to 

 commence the flaying of the oak bark. It has acquired the 

 name of Wryneck, from the peculiar habit of sunning itself 

 on the point of a branch, and contorting its neck in an extra- 

 ordinary manner, pointing its bill straight up, and ruffling 

 up its feathers. It feeds entirely on insects, and, like the 

 Green Woodpecker, is fond of collecting the ants and their 

 eggs, by means of the adhesive secretion on its tongue. It 

 never makes any nest, but lays its eggs on the rotten wood in 

 a natural hole, frequently in some fruit-tree. In one instance 

 a friend of mine amused himself by taking one egg every 

 morning till he had obtained no less than twenty-two *. 



* It is curious that the same number was takeu by Mr. Salmon (vide 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. pp. 465, 460). 



